Former Surgeon Accused of Abusing 299 Young Patients’ Admits ‘Responsibility’ for ‘Majority’ of Charges as Trial Begins: Reports

• A former surgeon in France is taking the stand in Vannes as he’s accused of raping and assaulting hundreds of minors in what’s thought to be the country’s largest child sex abuse trial, per reports

• On the first day of the trial, Joël Le Scouarnec’s lawyer said he admitted guilt in the “vast majority” of cases

• Le Scouarnec, 74, is already serving a 15-year jail sentence after previously being convicted for the rape and sexual abuse of four children

A former surgeon’s court case has begun after he was accused of raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of minors in what is thought to be France’s largest-ever child sex abuse trial.

Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, is taking the stand in the commune of Vannes, in the Brittany region of northwest France, where the suspect will likely face hundreds of victims, per the Associated Press.

On Monday, Feb 24, Judge Aude Buresi declared the hearing open as the suspect took his place in the dock, per the Agence France-Presse (AFP). As Le Scouarnec took the stand, one of his lawyers, Maxime Tessier, said his client had admitted “responsibility for a vast majority of the acts,” he was accused of, per RTE.

According to French outlet Le Monde, the suspect has been accused of assaulting 299 children between 1989 and 2014. The majority of the alleged victims are former patients of Le Scouarnec, many of whom were allegedly assaulted while under anesthesia, with most cases occurring in Brittany, per the BBC.

During the trial, which is expected to last four months, the court will examine alleged rapes and abuse on 158 men and 141 women, per the AP. The alleged victims were an average age of 11 at the time.

The oldest alleged victims are now almost 50, while the youngest is 17, according to CNN. The outlet also noted that the abuse reportedly took place in 10 hospitals and clinics.

If convicted, Le Scouarnec faces up to 20 years in prison in addition to the 15 he’s already serving for the rape and sexual abuse of four children.

In December 2020, France 24 reported on the sentencing after Le Scouarnec was charged in 2017 following a testimony from his neighbor’s 6-year-old daughter, who was one of his victims, citing the AFP.

The investigation revealed he’d raped two of his nieces between 1989 and 1999, as well as a then 4-year-old hospital patient in 1993, per the news agency.

It was reported at the time that police had uncovered more than 300,000 “indecent images of minors, including pictures of his two nieces,” per France 24. The suspect admitted raping his nieces during the trial, who were aged 35 and 30 at the time of the 2020 hearing.

In addition to child abuse images, police also found child-sized sex dolls and diaries containing details of the alleged abuse over the course of 25 years, according to the BBC. Le Scouarnec claimed the diaries contained “fantasies,” not real-life accounts. He also allegedly wrote “I am a pedophile” multiple times, per the outlet.

While reporting details of Le Scouarnec’s prison sentence in December 2020, the AP stated the suspect had made comments on the alleged sexual acts inflicted next to each child’s name, citing investigators.

Lawyer Francesca Satta, who is representing several of the alleged victims, told CNN ahead of Monday’s trial, “Why are some of my victims speaking out in the press?”

“It’s because they’re part of this movement that silence is no longer an option,” Satta added, per the outlet.

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The Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS) Bretagne, Le Scouarnec’s lawyer, Thibaut Kurzawa, and lawyer Francesca Satta, who is representing several of the alleged victims, didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment on the Vannes trial.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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