Pedo, the school minibus driver who assaulted female students, convicted after 7 years — and the sentence is still not final

A school minibus driver who sexually assaulted secondary school girls was sentenced to life imprisonment after seven years. The process is not over yet.

The driver is not shy to touch the girls even in the minibus PHOTO: illustrative/istock

In a case investigated and tried for seven years, on February 4, 2025, when the court of first instance ruled, a decision was reached to sentence to imprisonment with execution. The sentence, which is not final, came after multiple closures and reopenings of the sexual assault file on a 12-year-old girl from a rural town in Olt.

The investigation began in April 2019, following the notification that the mother of a 12-year-old child initially made to 112 and later through a written complaint. Her daughter gathered courage and told her mother that the driver of the school minibus, a man who at the time was approaching 60 years old, was acting strangely, with all too familiar gestures. It all culminated with touches on the breasts and explicit words, considered normal by the man. The girl's mother immediately called 112, and with this call began a journey that has not ended even today, seven years later. Instead, a decision was handed down last week to sentence the now 65-year-old man, who has since retired, to prison with execution.

Case closures and reopenings, fear and humiliation

The child's family's fight to uncover the truth began on April 1, 2019, the same day the girl told her mother that the driver who took her to school every day on the school minibus kissed her on the cheek, touched her breast and told her that since she didn't have a boyfriend, “he teaches her how to really love.” The child was then 12 years old.

The criminal investigation revealed that the inappropriate gestures had started since 2018, without the girl, who had known the man since kindergarten, initially giving them importance. During the minibus ride, the man “accidentally” touched the girls sitting on the driver's right seat on their breasts, caressed their legs, called them names such as “fairy”, “tits”, “sweet”, etc.. The man had the same behavior towards other schoolgirls, it was established during the criminal investigation, and the children started talking to each other, calling the driver “Pedo” (with direct reference to inappropriate behavior towards minors).

The girl from whom the criminal investigation started was terribly scared instead when, going to the store that the man managed, he hugged her, kissed her on the cheek and asked her inappropriate questions. He then handed her a chocolate, which the girl wanted to pay for, but the man insisted that it was a gift, warning her not to tell anyone what happened because otherwise “we both fucked”. Arriving home, the child immediately confessed to her mother, and the woman, being a weekend day, called 112 to notify the police.

In the following days, the police from the local section started the investigations, thus revealing that four other girls were put in a position to deal with the inappropriate behavior of the man. Five research files were opened, later merged into one. The driver was immediately removed from the school minibus, being replaced by another driver, instead he continued to see his duty in the city hall until 2022, when he was medically retired.

The legal battle was initially not favorable to the victim. After the investigation carried out at the police level, hearings were held in front of a prosecutor from Caracal, and he (a woman) would have reproached her, according to the child's mother, that “he liked it”otherwise he would not have accepted the chocolate.

On August 1, 2019, the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Caracal Court decided the classification. It was the period when the case of the Caracal murders was hotly discussed in Romania. It is hard to say whether the pressure of that case took its toll, but what is certain is that the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Olt Court rejected the solution, ordering the reopening of the case in November 2019. There followed three other classification solutions and as many appeals by the child's family, the judges forcing the prosecutors to redo the criminal investigation. Meanwhile, the other girls who initially confessed what they had experienced returned, under pressure from their families, on their statements. Only after the girls became of age, and in the context of the renewal of the criminal investigation at the level of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Olt Court, some of them revealed that they were forced by their parents/grandparents to retract what they initially reported, “so as not to be ashamed”.

The victim did not accept the admission of the facts and a suspended sentence

Six years after the case became public, in 2025, the driver accused of sexual assault on a minor (six material acts) was detained for 24 hours, later being placed under judicial control. He finally admitted his actions, his efforts to get the victim to come to an agreement and withdraw his complaint, which he kept trying, but to no avail. The defendant agreed to the simplified procedure and a suspended prison sentence. His victim, who in the meantime graduated from high school and is currently a student, did not believe for a moment the regret expressed by the man, being convinced that he only confessed because he was afraid of a harsher punishment. The young woman appealed the decision, and the Craiova Court of Appeal annulled the first sentence, ordering the continuation of the criminal investigation by the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Olt Court.

Thus the trial was resumed, the prosecutor proving that the man “(…) taking advantage of her minority status and the impossibility to defend herself or to express her will, sexually assaulted her by inappropriately touching her back, buttocks, breasts, face, legs, etc., in order to obtain sexual excitement or sexual satisfaction.”

On February 4, 2026, the Caracal Court ruled in this case, establishing for the man a sentence of 3 years and 6 months in prison for committing the crime of sexual assault on a minor, at the same time prohibiting him from certain rights. The court also ordered the taking of biological samples from the defendant in order to enter the genetic profile in the National Judicial Genetic Data System, and the man was also ordered to pay material and moral damages. The girl's family would receive 10,000 lei in the account of material damages, an amount that would cover the travel expenses, the psychological therapy necessary for the child, the payment of the defense attorney, etc. The moral damages were set at 50,000 lei.

The young woman's mother says that the amount established as material damages most likely does not cover everything that was spent in these seven years, but on the other hand, she did not have the problem, during this entire period, of recovering that money, although it was a very difficult expense for the family. “For us it was important that the girl be well. Each time we asked her if she wanted us to go further and for the truth to be established. And she said that's all she wanted, for the truth to come out and for him to pay for everything he did”said the young woman's mother, for “Adevărul”.

The impact of what happened, which is also mentioned in the solution communicated to the parties, was enormous. The girl needed psychological therapy, since then she is also dealing with a dermatological problem that arose due to stress, she had a period of isolation, her school results dropped immediately after the research began, the family had to deal with gossip from the community, etc.

The solution in this case is not final, and can be appealed within 10 days of communication.