VANNES, France — A former surgeon is scheduled to go on trial in France on Monday, facing serious allegations of rape and sexual abuse involving 299 victims, the majority of whom were children in his care. This case for Joël Le Scouarnec, now 74 years old, is being characterized by investigators as a continuous pattern of violence that stretches over three decades.
The trial, set to take place in Vannes, Brittany, is expected to last four months. If found guilty, Le Scouarnec could receive a sentence of up to 20 years, which would follow a 15-year term he is already serving after being convicted in 2020 for the sexual assault and rape of minors.
While Le Scouarnec does not deny the accusations against him, he claims he cannot recall all the details. Many survivors, for their part, may have no recollection of the assaults, having been rendered unconscious during those incidents.
This trial occurs at a time when activists are striving to break the long-standing silence surrounding sexual abuse in France. A notable case that has drawn public attention involved Gisèle Pélicot, who was drugged and raped by her ex-husband, along with others. Those responsible for her assault were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 20 years in December.
In advance of the trial, various child protection and women’s rights organizations, along with medical community associations, have organized a rally at the courthouse where Le Scouarnec will be tried. This comes after the investigation into his actions was launched in 2017, when a six-year-old neighbor reported that he had touched her inappropriately over the property fence.
Upon searching his residence, authorities discovered over 300,000 photographs and around 650 videos containing pedophilia, zoophilia, and scatology themes, as well as notebooks where Le Scouarnec self-identified as a pedophile and documented his activities.
In 2020, he was convicted of sexually assaulting and raping four children, including two of his own nieces, for which he received a 15-year prison sentence. Although he admitted to abusing children as far back as 1985-1986, some incidents could not be pursued legally due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
During the upcoming trial in Vannes, the court will review allegations of rape and sexual abuse that occurred between 1989 and 2014, affecting 159 men and 140 women, all of whom were around 11 years old on average at the time of the offenses. The doctor reportedly preyed on both boys and girls when they were alone in their hospital rooms, as documented in the investigation files.
Amélie Lévêque, one of the victims, recollected her experiences in the hospital when she was just 9 years old in 1991, stating, “I didn’t really remember the operation. I remembered the post-operation, a surgeon who was quite mean. I cried a lot.” Her sense of unease grew years later when she discovered her name mentioned in Le Scouarnec’s notebooks, which she described as “the beginning of the answers to a lifetime of questions.” She added, “I felt like I had lost control of everything. I wasn’t crazy, but now I had to face the truth of what had happened.”
Le Scouarnec’s attorney, Thibaut Kurzawa, asserted in an interview that his client would respond to the judges’ inquiries as he chose to “face up to reality.” Interestingly, Le Scouarnec previously faced legal repercussions in 2005 for possessing child sexual abuse materials, receiving a suspended sentence of four months. Despite this conviction, he was appointed as a hospital practitioner the following year.
Some child protection advocates have joined the case as civil parties, expressing their hope to strengthen the legal framework in order to avert future abuses.
