Paris - A paedophile with a long record of offences and convictions has made a plea to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to be physically castrated, local media reports said Sunday. Francis Evrad, who is 63, made the plea in a letter days before he faces trial for a further offence - abducting an raping a five-year- old boy, France 3 radio said.
The victim's father dismissed the plea as a cynical ploy aimed at "making him look like a martyr". Nouvelobs.com news website quoted him as saying further: "He's a manipulator. I'm irritated and angry. He must pay."
Evrad was convicted several times in the 1970s and 1980s. Shortly after completing an 18-year imprisonment term, he was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of abusing the five-year-old.
In his letter, Evrad - who has claimed to have been abused himself as a boy - said he would not suffer from physical castration because of his advanced age.
He already began a course of so-called "chemical castration" while on remand in prison, but ended this when his application for bail was refused.
French law makes no provision for physical castration.