The Court of Cassation upheld a 10-year aggravated prison sentence against an accountant at a private school for child sexual assault on Monday, after rejecting the defendant’s appeal to overturn the ruling. The accountant had been convicted of using force and intimidation to sexually assault a kindergarten student, known in Egyptian media as “S”.
Monday’s ruling is final and cannot be appealed, concluding a legal battle that has lasted nearly a year and a half. In April 2025, the Damanhour Criminal Court had initially sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment. The Military Court of Appellate Felonies subsequently reduced the sentence to 10 years of aggravated prison in November 2025, the decision upheld by the Court of Cassation today.
The family’s attorney, Ayman Attallah, said the conviction opens the door for the defense team to file civil compensation suits against the school’s owners. By law, the ownership entity bears responsibility for the actions of its employees during work.
After the ruling, Attallah told reporters that the defense intends to pursue legal action against the school principal, a teacher, and a school employee named Nani, on charges of obstructing justice and concealing vital information at the outset of the case. “We are studying the legal procedures and will move forward first thing tomorrow morning,” he said.
Atallah noted that the prosecutor general’s office had initially closed the case during preliminary investigations, based on statements from the school principal, who claimed the victim was not present on the days the perpetrator was at school.
“The family’s previous legal counsel submitted documents proving the child’s regular, daily attendance,” Attallah continued, “which prompted the prosecution to reopen the investigation and initiate criminal proceedings.” He emphasized that the principal bears both moral and legal responsibility for attempting to cover up the crime.
According to Monte Carlo, the case was complicated by the differing religious backgrounds of the involved parties: the child is Muslim and the perpetrator Christian, and the school where the assault occurred is affiliated with Egypt’s Coptic Church. This connection prompted several social media comments and posts to implicate the Church in the case.
Atallah addressed those claims, saying some had attempted to cast a sectarian dimension on the case through social media. “But in the end, whether the convicted individual is Christian or Muslim, he stands before Egyptian justice, under which religion is entirely irrelevant,” Attallah said. “We are talking about the Court of Cassation, which would never take something like that under consideration.”
