Former surgeon acknowledges “desperate acts” in the largest trial for abuse of children in France

The French former surgeon accused of abusing hundreds of patients, most of the children, told the court that he admitted that he had “committed contemptuous actions” and “understands and shares suffering” caused by his alleged victims.

Joel Le Scouarnec has been charged with attack or rape of 299 patients, a vast majority of under the age of 15, between 1989 and 2014, mainly in Brittany.

“I am perfectly aware that these wounds are indelible, out of repair,” Le Scouarnec said, a stopped but clear voice.

The white-kosa 74-year-old, who wore glasses and a black sweater for a zipper over a gray shirt, addressed the Vannes Court, northwestern France, on the first day of the greatest trial for abuse of children in French history.

Warning: This story contains disturbing details

“I can’t come back but I owe [the victims] And their relatives to acknowledge my actions and the consequences they had and will undoubtedly still have during their lives, “Le Scouarnec said in court.

During the day – which was mostly dedicated to technical procedures – he looked carefully, but did not have a special reaction when two visibly nervous men in the 30s took the view of being identified as their victims.

The youngest of Le Scouarnec’s alleged victims was old and the oldest 70.

Police were able to recognize them thanks to the carefully assembled diaries in which Le Scouarnec allegedly recorded the attacks he had taken to his young patients for over 25 years.

He has already been closed since 2017. Due to the abuse of four children, of whom in 2020 he was found guilty.

Many prosecutors were allegedly abused while under anesthesia or recovered from surgery in hospitals across northern France – which means that a number of them did not remember the abuse they say they had endured him and the police had to say that their names He appeared in Le Scouarnec’s diaries.

“Everything in this terrible story is not unusual … The victims did not approach the investigators, but the investigators warned the victims,” ​​public prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger told court.

“Many of them had no memories … a few would rather not know. But silence ruled too long.”

Many other people who remember allegedly abused are said to have accompanied the influence of events all their lives, in many cases, which resulted in a serious psychological trauma.

Mauricette Vinet, a patient’s grandmother Le Scouarnec who killed himself a few years ago, her grandson Mathis “killed” the alleged abuse of Le Scouarneca.

“If Mathis hadn’t happened, it would still be here,” she said.

Defense lawyer Maxime Tissier said on Monday that Le Scouarnec had acknowledged the “vast majority of” charges against him and that his client would soon be “explained” regarding the accusations.

“He is a defendant who has completely put himself in court … Despite his age,” Mr. Tissier said.

Le Scouarmec added in court that during police tests he did his best to “admit the events that represented rape, and those who, in my opinion, were not.”

Dozens of lawyers were also present in court, but hundreds of alleged casualties representing in a separate overflow room because of their pure number. Several psychologists and emotional support dogs will be at hand during the trial.

Aude Buresi, chairman of the judge, read a graphically and arduous summary of charges against Le Scouarnec, as well as excerpts from his 2020 tests, in which the former surgeon initially denied that his diaries reflected abuse in real life and were just transmitting about his “fantasies”.

But Mrs. Buresi said that a few elements – including the level of detail and the choice of the words Le Scouarnec used – indicated that the diaries were most likely true.

In his short statement on Monday, the former surgeon called his writings “very violent”.

An hour before the procedure initiated several dozen protesters, they organized a rally outside the courtroom, carrying the letters in which the phrase “stop the silence code”, while another sign read “Who knew?”

Victims and group advocacy groups said that “systemic failures” allowed Le Scouarnec to continue working with children.

In 2005, the FBI warned the French authorities that he had accessed the web pages for children abuse, but this had just resulted in a suspended penalty and did not face the consequences in the workplace.

Later, when Le Scouarnec worked at Quimperlé Hospital, he allegedly made sexually charged comments about a young patient, raising suspicions of a colleague who warned the regional medical association and realized them with a suspended sentence.

Members of the association were also invited to all other than one doctor – who refrained – they voted that Le Scouarnec did not break the Ethics Code. BBC approached the regional medical association for comment

The Association is now promoting charges against Le Scouarnec for “bringing a medical profession to dishonesty,” the secretary of the body Didier Robin said on Monday.

His statement caused a rapid contest for lawyer Frédéric Benoist, who represents a group of advocating the protection of children La Voix de l’enfant (The Chiby Voice), and previously told the BBC that Le Scouarnec is able to commit his works because of “huge degree of dysfunction” medical experts.

Mr. Benoist said that “it is morally rude and legally questionable” that the medical association is allowed to be listed as a prosecutor. “That’s unacceptable [the association] He was sitting next to the victims, “he said.

The session on Monday closed early – something that is unlikely to be repeated during the trial, which will be launched at a tight schedule and should be completed in June.

At the request of the prosecutor, some sessions will be held behind closed doors – but the large parts will be open to journalists and public members.

The ex -wife of Le Scouarnec and his siblings will be heard in court on Tuesday.

Asked why she attended a procedure that would undoubtedly involve gloomy and graphic details about abuse, one woman said in line to enter the room overflow by BBC that she wanted to see “this doctor, this Mr. Everyman.”

“I want to see what human nature can be capable of, because all that – it’s just outside me,” she said.