Child rapist was 'prescribed Viagra'

August 19, 2007

Adapted from CNN.com

A French pedophile accused of raping a five-year-old boy just over a month after he was released from jail was taking the impotence drug Viagra that he says was prescribed by a prison doctor, his lawyer said.

The 61-year-old repeat offender who spent 18 years in prison for raping children before being freed last month, snatched the boy from the street recently.

Through the use of a new nationwide search system, police discovered the man and boy later in the day partly clothed in a garage the man used.

Officers found Viagra in his pocket.

"He says very clearly that he asked for these products in prison and that they gave him a prescription which he collected when he was released," the man’s lawyer told a Parisian newspaper.

The police have yet to confirm where he obtained the drug.

The story has shocked France and stirred a debate over repeat offenders just weeks after a new criminal bill was signed into law.

President Nicolas Sarkozy will hold a meeting with his prime minister, justice, health and interior ministers to discuss the affair and any new measures that could be taken.

The new law would force repeat offenders in pedophile cases to take hormone medication while in prison but there is also a debate about chemical castration and the treatment of pedophiles after they leave prison.

The case has also highlighted dissatisfaction with France's justice system which magistrates complain is underfunded and inefficient and has one of the smallest budgets in Europe.

They say it is pointless to keep voting new laws without the funds to make sure that the new rulesare applied.

"Each time there is a repeat offender, it's always the same thing, an overreaction in the media, ministers meet and we announce with great fanfare that what has happened is unacceptable and must not happen again," said the president of the magistrates union.

The boy was found with the help of a new alert system for missing children based on one used in the United States involving a nationwide media campaign and messages in stations and on motorways.