Surgeon on trial for sexually abusing hundreds of children: I did terrible things

According to court documents, Le Scouarnec abused child patients who were under anesthesia or recovering from surgery. The average age of the victims was reported to be 11, and notebooks detailing the doctor's abuse were found in his home.

The suspected doctor is alleged to have worked in several hospitals in western France between 1989 and 2014, during which time he sexually abused his patients.

Horrific truths that emerge by chance

In 2017, an investigation was launched into Le Scouarnec after his neighbours complained to the police in the town of Jonzac, near Bordeaux. In 2020, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting his six-year-old neighbour, a four-year-old patient and two of his nephews .

Police searched the doctor's home and found more than 300,000 photos and videos of child abuse. They also found notebooks containing dolls, some of which were life-size, and the names of his victims. In one of the notebooks, Le Scouarnec allegedly wrote: "I am a paedophile and always will be."

Investigation also looks into negligence

The court is also questioning how the doctor was able to continue his profession despite knowledge of his past crimes. Le Scouarnec received a four-month suspended sentence in 2005 for possessing child abuse images. Despite the fact that the matter was reported to his employers, the doctors' union L'Ordre des Médecins and the French Ministry of Health, no sanctions were imposed.

More than 60 lawyers are defending the rights of the victims in the case. It was recorded that 256 of the victims were under the age of 15, the youngest being 1 year old. The victims will give their statements to the court next month in chronological order of the events.

Families want justice

Le Scouarnec's ex-wife and three children will also testify in court. "We want all our trauma to be recognised," said one of the victims, Marie. "We have been carrying a pain that has been with us for years and we are waiting for this silence to end."

The presence of the doctors' association L'Ordre des Médecins in court has been a source of controversy throughout the trial. "It is scandalous that the professional organization is in the same position as the defendants when there are such serious allegations," said Frédéric Benoist, a lawyer for the child protection association La Voix de L'Enfant.

The trial is expected to last around four months and is generating a huge public outcry in France.