Judgment expects in trial against the French pedophile surgeon who abused hundreds of

A judgment is expected on Wennenday in the case of Joel Le Scouarnec, the former surgeon who admitted that he has sexually abused hundreds of patients, usually younger, between 1989 and 2014.

Le Scouarnec, 74, is called the most productive pedophile in France. He is already in prison after being convicted in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexual abuse of four children, including two of his nieces.

Now he is confronted with an extra maximum punishment of 20 years.

The former doctor has been on trial in Brittany since the end of February. During that time, dozens of his victims have testified and the court told how the abuse they maintained when children have formed their lives.

In March, during a session that was held behind closed doors, Le Scouarnec admitted that he all 299 victims sexually abused, many while they were under anesthesia or woke up after operations.

He stayed diaries in which he described the attacks in graphic details, so that the police could detect his victims – of whom many had no memory of the abuse that they were members in the care of Le Scouarnec.

The former surgeon admitted the charges during a session that was held behind closed doors in March.

“I can no longer view myself in the same way, because I am a pedophile and a child seller,” said Le Scouarnec last week during his last statements to the court.

“Many things have been said. I don’t necessarily remember everything now that everything will come back to me when I am in my cell, but what I have seen (in court) is the suffering for which I am responsible,” he said.

He added that he did not want or expected to get any clementia.

Earlier this month He also said he was “responsible” for the death of two victims Whose family members say died of suicide, after the trauma of sexual abuse of Le Scouarnec when they were children.

The grandparents of one of them, Mathias Vinet, who died four years ago, told the BBC about Experienced the “Descent in Hell” by his grandson When the police revealed him that his name appeared in one of the diaries.

The test has furiously awakened that Le Scouarnec came away with the abuse for more than fifteen years and that he could continue to treat children in 2005, despite a conviction for downloading pedophile images.

The victims of Joel Le Scouarnec Collective Group complained that the process could not have been drawn to the attention of politicians and society in general.

“No lessons were drawn from this, nor of the medical world, nor of politicians,” the group said in a statement. Several victims held a protest for the courthouse before the verdict was pronounced on Wednesday afternoon.

Catherine, the mother of a victim, said on the day of the verdict that it was the first time she had seen so many journalists who covered the process and added that she felt that the victims had forgotten.

“It’s a shame, but I hope that our message can now be passed on. Not for the generation that was injured, but for my grandchildren,” she said, adding that she hoped that institutions would “respond”.

Le Scouarnec, who was present in court every day of the 14 -week trial, repeatedly apologized for his “exciting” actions.

Many of his victims were not impressed by his attitude. “His words are always the same, in the same tone, I don’t see any sincerity in it,” Louis-Marie, 35, told the BBC. “The only thing I hope is that he no longer harms society … that he remains locked up.”

“I never saw tears running down his cheeks,” said another victim named Manon Lemoine.

But Maxime Tessier, one of Le Scouarnec’s lawyers, said he believed that his client had been sincere. “He was very moved during this process … It was very important to him to confess as he did. It was a moment of truth and justice.”

Mr. Tessier also pointed his finger on the medical establishment, of which civil parties have accused that they have no longer done to prevent Le Scouarnec’s drugs from being broadly circulating about his pedophilia.

“Nobody acknowledged responsibility, while all the victims said it is not only a man who did that – but also the system that let him do it,” he told the BBC.

The National Order of Doctors (CNOM), who also brought a lawsuit against Le Scouranec, said in March that it “expressed his deep regret” because the former surgeon should have been prevented from “practicing”.

“This situation has demonstrated poor communication between the different entities in the Order of Doctors, and we regret it deeply,” they said in a statement.

Additional reporting by Marianne Baisnée in Vannes