A French sex tourist was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison for raping or abusing dozens of young boys in Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Egypt over a decade. Thierry Darantiere, 52, who confessed to the crimes, was also ordered to accept treatment for the next 10 years. Taking the stand on Tuesday, Darantiere's voice shook as he expressed "regrets which seem futile... to these young people I will never see again".
The sheer number of the minors he allegedly abused between 2002 and 2011 - 66 - made the trial the biggest in France for sex crimes committed abroad. Darantiere testified, however, that the number may have been much higher. Despite the magnitude of the sexual tourism industry, such hearings are rare, given a lack of evidence and plaintiffs. Darantiere, a former director of a Catholic retirement home, was charged with rape and sexual assault, corrupting minors, using under-age prostitutes, and recording and disseminating child pornography.