Former French surgeon, Paedophile Joël Le Scouarnec, presently on trial for the sexual abuse of numerous patients under the age of 15, stated in court on Tuesday that he feels “responsible” for the suicides of two of his victims.
A former surgeon on trial in France, Joël Le Scouarnec, who has confessed to sexually abusing hundreds of patients, predominantly those under 15, stated on Tuesday that he regards himself as “responsible” for the deaths of two of his victims.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, has been on trial since February, facing allegations of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults across a dozen hospitals in western France, constituting one of the nation’s most significant child sex abuse cases.
Joël Le Scouarnec confessed in March to sexually assaulting all 299 victims, many of whom were under anaesthesia or regaining consciousness post-surgery between 1989 and 2014.
French ex-surgeon concedes to ‘vast majority’ of allegations in historical child sexual abuse trial.
The ex-physician, Joël Le Scouarnec, is currently incarcerated after receiving a 15-year sentence in December 2020 for the rape and sexual assault of four minors, including two of his nieces.
UPDATE 30.05.25
A French court has found a retired surgeon guilty of sexually abusing hundreds of patients, many of them children, in a trial that has shaken France.
Joël Le Scouarnec has been described as the worst paedophile in history, having been accused of the aggravated rape or sexual assault of 299 victims.
Le Scouarnec told the court he committed “despicable acts” over a 25-year period whilst he worked as a doctor in western France, in a trial that has raised uncomfortable questions for the publicly run healthcare system.
The 74-year-old was allowed to continue treating children even after a child pornography conviction in 2005.
He was sentenced to 20 years in jail and will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least two-thirds of his term.
However, Le Scouarnec is already serving jail time for earlier rape convictions. In 2020, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of a child neighbour, as well as his two nieces and a four-year-old patient.
Under French law, his two sentences will run concurrently, so he should only serve the additional years after the first sentence is complete. This means he could be eligible for parole by 2030.
Stéphane Kellenberger, the public prosecutor, told Le Scouarnec: “You were the devil and sometimes the devil is dressed in a white coat.”
He said that the retired surgeon would have been jailed for 4,111 years in the US.
In France, meanwhile, the maximum term for aggravated rape is 20 years, and sentences are not added together on individual counts.
Presiding Judge Aude Buresi, whose voice at times appeared to choke with emotion, said Le Scouarnec had preyed on victims when they were at their most vulnerable, including whilst under anaesthesia.
“Your acts were a blind spot in the medical world, to the extent that your colleagues, the medical authorities, were incapable of stopping your actions,” the judge told Le Scouarnec.
The court ordered Le Scouarnec to be placed on the sex offenders register. The judge also barred him from practising medicine or having contact with minors.
During the trial, Le Scouarnec told the court that he was aware that the harm he had caused was irreparable.
“I owe it to all these people and their loved ones to admit my actions and their consequences, which they’ve endured and will keep having to endure all their lives,” he added.
The judge said she understood many victims hoped Le Scouarnec would never walk out of jail, but that the law did not allow her to impose a life sentence.
The court heard that Le Scouarnec had assaulted or raped some patients while they were under anaesthetic – meaning that many had no idea what had happened – or when they were waking up.
Others were awake at the time, and Le Souarnec told them what he was doing was part of an examination.
Thomas Delaby, the lawyer representing some of the victims, described Le Scouarnec as “the worst mass paedophile who ever lived,” and said his clients “will never forgive you, never”.
In his final statement to the court before the verdict, Le Scouarnec said: “I am not asking the court for leniency. Simply grant me the right to become a better person.”
Prosecutors said that a second trial is likely to be needed to hear of the cases of dozens more people who were likely attacked by Le Scouarnec but who were never contacted by investigators.
The trial took place at a time of reckoning around sex crimes in France after the conviction of Dominique Pelicot, who was found guilty in December of drugging his wife unconscious and inviting dozens of men to their home to rape her.
Victims and their families have publicly asked why local and national health authorities failed to stop Le Scouarnec. In 2005, he was convicted of downloading images of child sexual abuse and received a suspended jail sentence, but managed to continue working in public hospitals.
Several dozen victims and rights campaigners gathered outside the courthouse ahead of the verdict, holding a banner made of hundreds of pieces of white paper with black silhouettes, one for each victim. Some of the papers bore a first name and age, while others referred to the victim as “Anonymous”.
The extent of Le Scouarnec’s abuse was revealed after his re-arrest in 2017 on suspicion of raping his six-year-old neighbour.
Police discovered electronic diaries that appeared to detail more than two decades of rapes and sexual assaults on young patients – including their names, ages, addresses and the nature of his crimes – in hospitals across the region, as well as a cache of sex dolls, wigs and child pornography. In one notebook, Le Scouarnec said he was “very happy” to be a paedophile.
The trial took place in Vannes, a small town in Brittany.
The local prosecutor, whose office led the investigation into Le Scouarnec, has opened a separate investigation to ascertain if there was any criminal liability by agencies or individuals who could have prevented the abuse.
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