A former surgeon in France is accused of raping or sexually abusing 299 victims, mainly his pediatric patients, and detailing the abuse in journals over three decades.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, will begin trial in Vannes, Brittany, on Monday, NPR reported. Hundreds of victims are prepared to testify in what is expected to be a four-month trial. Le Scouarnec is already imprisoned, serving 15 years for a 2020 case where he was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces.
If convicted in the present case, he faces up to 20 additional years in prison for alleged crimes committed against 158 male and 141 female victims who were, on average, 11-years-old when the abuse occurred.
A 6-year-old neighbor said Le Scouarnec made inappropriate physical contact with her from over the fence between their homes in 2017, prompting an investigation. The search of his home revealed over 300,000 pornographic images and videos containing pedophilic, zoophilic and scatological content, and notebooks describing his acts.
Amélie Lévêque learned her name was found in Le Scouarnec's notebooks and described the experience to France 3. "That was the beginning of the answers to a lifetime of questions, and then it was the beginning of the descent into hell," she said. "I wasn't crazy, but now I had to face the truth of what had happened."
Lévêque was 9 in 1991 when she stayed in the hospital for surgery. "I didn't really remember the operation. I remembered the post-operation, a surgeon who was quite mean," she said. "I cried a lot."
Le Scouarnec has not denied the charges against him, but says he can't remember everything. The memories of some of his victims are also incomplete, as a portion of the abuse occurred while patients were anesthetized.
The statute of limitations has expired on the earliest abuse Le Scouarnec has admitted to, so the Vannes trial will focus on alleged crimes committed between 1989 and 2014.
Originally published on Latin Times
