The suspect arriving at court in Palma yesterday.

TW

The former teaching assistant and janitor who worked at the Sant Agustin college in Palma was yesterday ordered to be held on remand in Palma prison facing charges of abusing and corrupting young children.

The 31-year-old was arrested on Thursday and appeared before a preliminary hearing yesterday morning.

He decided to use his right not to make a statement and therefore, the magistrate ordered that he be held on remand until the case comes to court.

The former teaching assistant was sacked from his post on 1 June where he was in charge of extra school activities, having been accused on various occasions of sexually abusing pupils.

The suspect was first arrested at the end of May after he was denounced for having apparently abused an 11-year-old boy.

The former teaching assistant denied the charge and was released.However, according to the boy’s mother, he was often alone with the teaching assistant and was apparently made to take his trousers down and sexually abused.

The suspect also stands accused of having used a video camera to film certain incidents.

Since he was first denounced for having “touched” children, more cases have come to light with more parents coming forward and the teaching assistant was subsequently arrested again this week.

Police sources said yesterday that at his home inspectors found a large quantity of child pornography on his computers.According to the child victims, they didn’t say anything at first because they confided in the teaching assistant and also because he had asked them to keep it a secret.

Now, police are continuing with their investigation because they fear that there could be more cases.