The French pedophile surgeon says that he is ‘responsible’ for the death of two victims

This story contains disturbing details from the beginning

Joel Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon who has admitted in France in France that he has sexually abused hundreds of patients, usually younger, said that he considers himself “responsible” for the death of two of his victims.

In recent weeks, the court was shown the photos of two people whose family members say they died of suicide, after the trauma of sexual abuse of Le Scouarnec when they were children.

One is not mentioned; The other is Mathias Vinet, who died in 2021 after wrestling with addiction. His grandparents the BBC told them to blame Le Scouarnec for his death.

“I keep the memory of those two photos, (shown) towards the end, during the last investigations,” said the former surgeon. “They died and I am responsible.”

Le Scouarnec, 74, was questioned in the court in Vannes, Brittany, during the penultimate week of a long and debilitating test that started at the end of February.

In March, during a session that was held behind closed doors, Le Scouarnec once admitted a respected surgeon with a small city – admitted that he all 299 victims were sexually abused, many while they became under anesthesia or woke up after operations, between 1989 and 2014. More than 250 of them were younger than 15 years.

His lawyer Maxime Tessier said he had asked Le Scouarnec if he admitted that the many people mentioned in his diaries were “all potential victims of his actions and he said:” Yes. “

At the start of the process Le Scouarnec also told the court that he “committed despise actions” and “understood and shared the suffering” caused to many of his patients.

The police were able to identify hundreds of victims thanks to carefully compiled diaries in which Le Scouarnec attacks that he had carried out in graphic details.

Many had no memory of the abuse that they would have contracted and had to be told by the police that their names appeared in the diaries of Le Scouarnec.

For hundreds of hours in the course of the process, Le Scouarnec has come face to face with dozens of his victims and their family members.

Many of them became emotional when they described how the abuse they endured were their lives; Several said they suffered from eating disorders, anxiety, depression or addiction.

“You came in my head, it destroyed me, I became a very different person I no longer recognize,” Le Monde -newspaper reported a victim.

One of the few victims who had memories of the abuse that was sustained by Le Scouarnec, said she was relieved when the police contacted her to say that her name appeared in the diaries of the former surgeon.

“I’ve been waiting for your call for 30 years,” she said, according to Le Monde.

The newspaper also told the story of another victim who had no memory of the abuse, but said she was “convinced” that she had been raped. “I wanted to die without even knowing why. He stole my childhood,” she told the court.

During the process, Le Scouarnec apologized to his victims and often acknowledges that his actions had been “revolting”.

Roman Codou, a lawyer representing several victims, told the French media that his recognition of guilt had “shattered” the victims and “allowed them to close the door for a terrible debate in which we were handed over to Joel Le Scouarnec”.

Part of the process was devoted to the cross -examination of medical professionals who worked in the same institutions as Le Scouarnec.

The lawyers of victims and interest groups for child protection have said that “institutional shortcomings” enabled the surgeon to continue to work with children, even after an FBI alert – published in the early 2000s – the French authorities warned that Le Scouarnec had access to websites for child abuse.

The National Order of Doctors (CNOM), who also filed a lawsuit against Le Scouranec, said in March that it “expressed his deep regret” because he “should not have been practiced”.

“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.

Although it is the biggest test of child abuse in French history, many victims have had the feeling that the procedure has received relatively little attention in France.

The victims of Joel Le Scouarnec Collective Group said it was “stunned” to see how 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.

Le Scouarnec 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 prison sentence of 20 years.

A judgment is expected on 28 May.