French former surgeon in trial for allegedly sexually assaulting 299 patients

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details of sexual abuse

A former surgeon accused of sexually violating or sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients, some while they were under anesthesia, has been judged in the case of largest child sexual abuse in France.

Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, faces positions of aggravated rape and sexual aggression against 299 victims, most of them children at that time.

Dr. Le Scouarnec received a four -month suspended prison sentence for having child abuse material in 2005, but managed to ensure work as a surgeon in a public hospital in Quimperle, western of France, the following year.

He continued to work in public hospitals until his arrest in 2017 under suspicion of raping his six -year -old neighbor.

Police investigators looking at home found a cache of dolls, wigs and child abuse material. They also discovered electronic newspapers that seemed to detail their sexual aggressions in dozens of patients in hospitals throughout the region.

In 2020, Dr. Le Scouarnec was convicted of the rape and sexual aggression of his neighboring son, as well as two of his nieces and a four -year -old patient, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

After new investigations on the alleged victims registered in their archives, prosecutors finally accused Dr. Le Scouarnec of aggravated violation and sexual assault of 299 people.

Prosecutors say that Dr. Le Scouarnec admitted to investigators many of the accusations he faces.

“The defendant admits the responsibility of a large majority of the acts (for which he has been accused),” said his lawyer Maxime Tessier on the first day of the four -month trial.

Dr. Le Scouarnec told the court “I have done horrible things.”

He said he was “perfectly aware that these wounds cannot be erased or heal” and that he was ready to “assume responsibility” of his actions.

The trial takes place in Vannes, a small town in Brittany.

Francois, who was 12 when Dr. Le Scouarnec allegedly abused him, said he expected the case to provide very necessary responses.

“I feel betrayed by the authorities,” said Francois, who asked to be identified only by this name.

“Why did no one prevent this surgeon from working with children?”

The Ministry of Health did not respond to the requests for comments from the Reuters news agency.

The procedures occur only two months after Dominique Pelicot was convicted of enlisting dozens of strangers to violate his wife Gisele Pelicot, who has since divorced and become a feminist hero.

Ignored warnings

Shortly after Dr. Le Scouarnec obtained a job at the Quimperle Public Hospital in 2006, a psychiatrist in the hospital warned of management about his concerns about the surgeon’s behavior, he showed a judicial document.

Dr. Le Scouarnec continued working with children.

The Quimperle Hospital did not respond to the requests for comments on why Dr. Le Scouarnec was hired after being convicted of having images of child abuse and why he could continue working after the psychiatrist expressed his concerns.

The prosecutor of Lorient Stephane Kellenberger, whose office directed the investigation into the alleged crimes of Dr. Le Scouarnec, has opened a separate investigation into the possible criminal responsibility of other public bodies or people who could have avoided abuse.

The Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comments.

The National Council of the Order of Physicians (CNOM), which supervises adherence to the code of ethics of doctors in France and has the power to discipline doctors, declined to comment.

The local CNOM branch in the Finister Finister Department, which according to judicial documents, was aware of Dr. Le Scouarnec’s conviction in 2005, did not respond to multiple requests for comments.

Reuters/AFP/ABC