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In early February 2001, a friend's daughter told writer Jean-Yves Cendrey that she had been sexually abused ten years previously, as a primary-school pupil at the state primary school of Cormeilles, in Upper Normandy...

Over the next five days, Cendrey was to hear one horror-story after another. Every child or teenager he interviewed told him about a friend who had also been abused.
After a week's investigations, Cendrey decided to take matters into his own hands. Next morning, he drove to the home of the teacher concerned, ordered him to get into the car, and took him to the police station. Several families filed complaints against the 47-year-old teacher, who was indicted for rape and sexual abuse of a minor under 15.
As soon as the media were notified, hordes of journalists arrived in the village. The case was headline news in the press and on television. Thirty-six complaints, including two accusations of rape, were filed against the teacher for offences allegedly committed between 1989 and 2001. Several witnesses' accounts revealed that other teachers at the school, doctors and psychiatrists had known what was happening but had kept quiet about it.
Following twelve years of silence, a cloud of suspicion descended on the village. Its 1227 inhabitants no longer feel they can trust anyone, not even each other. A year after the facts were brought to light, we reflect on what happened at Cormeilles. Our aim is not to reopen the case, but to show how the actions of the teacher concerned inflicted lasting damage on a small provincial community.