Voz media US Voz.us

French court begins trial against former surgeon accused of raping more than 300 minors

Joël Le Scouarnec operated for decades and was not discovered until 2017, when his neighbors reported him, leading to a search of his home that unveiled his crimes.

Ilustración del acusado durante su primer juicio, en ella se puede ver a Joël Le Scouarnec sentado en el banquillo de los acusados y rodeado de sus abogados.

Illustration of the defendant during his first trial.Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP

Published by

Topics:

The trial of Joël Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon accused of raping and sexually assaulting nearly 300 victims, will begin on Feb. 24 in Vannes, France, "with an estimated duration of about four months," the prosecution announced Monday.

It is a case that shocked France because of the barbarity of the acts of which Le Scouarnec is accused. Just a few months ago, the same country was rocked by the atrocities of the Pelicot case.

Now, this new trial will clarify the more than 300 accusations that still exist about the French former surgeon. It also concerns an alleged cover-up by a colleague and negligence by his superiors. Prior to his arrest, the FBI informed French authorities that Le Scouarnec visited pages with pedophilic content, but no strong measures were taken.

The trial will be heard before the Criminal Court of Morbihan, in the French region of Brittany. It will be held at the Criminal Court in Vannes.

At the end of September, after four years of investigation, Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, was referred to the Morbihan criminal court for a total of 300 offenses, committed against 299 victims during decades of medical practice in several hospitals.

This digestive surgery specialist, already sentenced in 2020 to 15 years in prison for other offenses, will be tried for "aggravated rape and aggravated sexual assault."

This time, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Joël Le Scouarnec had been charged with rape and sexual assault of 312 identified potential victims in light of his "notebooks," which recount sexual abuse over a 30-year period.

In December 2020, the Charente-Maritime court of first instance sentenced him to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting one of his nieces and a young female patient in the 1990s, as well as raping another niece during the same period and his 6-year-old neighbor.

Reforms to accommodate the media at the trial

Given the large number of civil parties, several additional rooms are being set up in a former university building a few hundred yards from the Vannes courthouse to accommodate the public and the press. The trial will be broadcast there on screens.

The trial will be broadcast there on screens. Since most of the victims were minors at the time of the events, "there is a risk that part of the trial will be held behind closed doors," the judge specified. The average age of the 299 victims, of both sexes, was 11 years old, according to the investigation.

The works will cost a total of between 2.7 and 3.2 million euros (roughly $2.8-3.3 million).

A complaint by a neighbor kickstarted the investigation

Joël Le Scouarnec spent most of his medical and professional career without any run-ins with justice. The whole case that is now arriving in court began in 2017 with a complaint by a neighbor in the town of Jonzac, on the French west coast.

The minor, then only 6 years old, informed her parents of strange behavior by Le Scouarnec, which led to a complaint of indecent exposure and sexual assault against a minor.

In this first investigation, the French Police conducted a search of the home of the accused and found diaries and notes containing details of criminal practices, as well as several sex-related objects.

In the documents, there were sufficient details about potential victims, who were minors at the time of the acts, for police to be able to identify and find them.

tracking