French surgeon handed maximum sentence in mass child-abuse trial
A former French surgeon was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday after having confessed to the abuse of 299 patients, most of them minors.
In what is considered to be France's largest child-abuse trial, retired medical doctor Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, admitted to abusing a total of 158 male and 141 female patients with an average age of 11 between 1989 and 2014.
Prosecutors had accused the defendant of having treated his victims like lifeless objects, showing no empathy whatsoever, and exploiting his position as a doctor.
He often abused patients who were still under anaesthetic or children who were unable to classify his actions as abuse.
The public prosecutor had demanded a 20-year prison sentence, the maximum possible penalty for the defendant.
It said the number of victims was higher still. So as not to delay the trial, 299 cases were initially brought to court. There would probably be further criminal proceedings for other victims.
State of shock
The case has shocked France, and questions have been raised as to why the health authorities were unable to stop the doctor earlier, as he had been given a suspended sentence for child pornography in 2005.
The defence lawyer spoke of "a major failure" of France's health systems. He said that indications of misconduct had been trivialized and that the authorities had preferred to keep the doctor in his post.
Victims of the surgeon also denounced the failure of the authorities.
"How was Doctor Scouarnec able to practise for 30 years, how was he allowed to go about his business, why didn't anyone know?" a 36-year-old woman asked in court.
France's medical association admitted its own failings in the trial.
The doctor had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for four cases of abuse in 2020. The investigation was triggered in 2017 by a complaint from a neighbour whose 6-year-old daughter was abused by the doctor in the garden.
During searches, the investigators came across around 300,000 photos of child abuse as well as diaries in which the doctor had recorded his decades of abuse in great detail. With this information, the investigators set out to find the often unknowing victims that the surgeon met during his work in rural hospitals in western France.
Traumatized victims
Numerous victims spoke in court about the trauma and psychological damage caused by the abuse. Children who had not been aware of the abuse had also reacted subconsciously to the violence they suffered.
Experts diagnosed post-traumatic syndromes, inhibitions and physical complaints in the victims as a result of psychological stress.
In some cases, these only materialized after the investigators visited the victims and revealed to them that they had been abused in their childhood.
At the start of the trial, the retired doctor gave a comprehensive confession. "I committed heinous acts," he said. "I must bear the responsibility for my actions and the consequences for the victims, which they will carry for the rest of their lives."
Unexpectedly, the doctor later admitted in court that he had also abused his granddaughter, who at the time was 2 years old.
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