Frenchman confesses to 'about 40' rapes and assaults

A 56-year-old man has admitted raping and assaulting about 40 women and girls in the north of France and Belgium. Police had been trying to find the "rapist of the Sambre" - named after a local river - since 1996 but some cases that have come to light date back to 1988.

A TV crew outside Scala's house after his arrest AFP

Officials have not named the man but neighbours identified him as Dino Scala, a manual worker at an electrical company and father of three who lives in Pont-sur-Sambre, a town near the Belgian border.

After being arrested on Monday, he confessed to the 19 rapes and assaults for which he had been arrested, going on to "spontaneously" admit to a total of about 40 in both France and Belgium, according to public prosecutor Jean-Philippe Vicentini.

The victims' ages ranged from 13 to 50 and at least seven took place in Belgium.

Attack on schoolgirl

It was an attack on a girl on her way to school in the Belgian town of Erquelinnes on 5 February that led investigators to the suspect.

Belgian police recognised his method, the same as used in all the other assaults, committing them early in the morning, grabbing his victims from behind, wearing gloves and concealing all or part of his face, according to Vicentini.

He sometimes threatened his victims with a knife and tied them up.

CCTV cameras picked up a French-registered car, which police traced back to the man, although it was still recorded under the name of the previous owner.

DNA samples had been gathered at the scenes of several of the assaults but had proved negative on the roughly 100 people who had been tested until this week.

They matched the DNA of the new suspect, who had no criminal record.

He confessed to the rapes and assaults, telling investigators that he acted on "urges that he couldn't control", Vicentini said, adding that further investigations would have to be carried out and that some partial assaults my not have been reported to the authorities.

Locals shocked

Local people were astonished on hearing the news of his arrest.

"It doesn't fit with his personality," Pont-sur-Sambre's mayor, Michel Detrait, said. "He was well liked, always ready to help ... We're completely shocked."

He had been the trainer and president of the local football club between 2011 and 2015.

Police have contacted as many victims as possible and reported that many had given up hope that their assailant would be found, as had some police officers.

He is to face an examining magistrate for in-depth questioning in three weeks' time, his lawyer Jean-Benoit Moreau said on Thursday morning.

He has so far only been charged with the 19 cases and the interrogation will be limited to them, according to Moreau.

"The first thing my client said was that he owed the truth to his victims, then to his family and himself," the lawyer told the media. "His reasoning is to confess, to cooperate."