Lawyer of sex abuse surgeon in France dies in apparent suicide
Lawyer Maxime Tessier represented jailed French surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec, who confessed at his trial to sexually assaulting or raping 298 patients between 1989 and 2014, many of them children.
RENNES, France - A lawyer for Joel Le Scouarnec, a French surgeon who sexually abused and raped patients over decades, has died in an apparent suicide, a prosecutor said on July 9.
Mr Maxime Tessier, 34, defended Le Scouarnec, 74, who
confessed at his trial to sexually assaulting or raping 298 patients between 1989 and 2014, many of them children.
A French court sentenced Le Scouarnec to 20 years in prison in May.
'Everything points to suicide,' Mr Frederic Teillet, chief prosecutor in the western French city of Rennes, said of the lawyer's death, adding that an investigation had started.
Mr Tessier, a father of two young children, 'had a very high regard for justice and was therefore very demanding towards himself', said Ms Catherine Glon, his associate.
He was one of two lawyers defending Le Scouarnec, one of the most infamous sex predators in French criminal history.
Child rights advocates say the case had highlighted systemic failures that allowed Le Scouarnec to repeatedly commit sexual crimes.
A prosecutor in the case called the former doctor 'the devil... dressed in a white coat'.
He abused many victims while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations. AFP
A February 2025 photo shows retired surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec (right) arriving for a court hearing.
PHOTO: AFP
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