Latest news with #procureur
News.com.au
28-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
French court to rule on surgeon who abused children for decades
A French court is to give its verdict Wednesday in the trial of a surgeon who admitted to sexually abusing hundreds of patients over more than two decades, in one of the country's largest child sex abuse cases. Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, is already in prison after being sentenced in 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces. In this trial, which began in February, he has admitted sexually assaulting or raping 299 patients -- 256 of them under 15 -- in hospitals in western France between 1989 and 2014, many while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations. Le Scouarnec is charged with 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults and is set to emerge as one of the most prolific convicted sex predators in France's history. The victims have been represented by around 60 lawyers. "I hope the verdict will be commensurate with the horrors he committed," Amelie Leveque, one of the victims, told AFP. "But I don't believe it very much." Victims and child rights advocates say the surgeon's case highlights systemic shortcomings that allowed Le Scouarnec to repeatedly commit sexual crimes. Prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger has requested the maximum 20-year sentence for the retired surgeon and also made the rare demand that he should be held in a centre for treatment and supervision even after any release due to his "dangerousness". In France, sentences are not added together, unlike in the United States where Le Scouarnec would have been jailed for "2,000 years", said the prosecutor. - 'Major pervert' - "I am not asking the court for leniency," Le Scouarnec said in his closing statement in Vannes in the western region of Brittany on Monday. "Simply grant me the right to become a better person," he said. The verdict, which will be handed down by presiding judge Aude Buresi, is expected to be announced from 2:30 pm (1230 GMT). One of the lawyers, Maxime Tessier, has asked the court to take into account the "exceptional" nature of Le Scouarnec's confession when he admitted all the charges against him in March. The retired surgeon also said he considered himself "responsible" for the death of two of his victims -- Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021 in what his family says was suicide, and another man who was found dead in 2020. Le Scouarnec documented his crimes, noting his victims' names, ages, addresses and the nature of the abuse. In his notes, the doctor described himself as a "major pervert" and a "paedophile". "And I am very happy about it," he recorded. - 'Never again' - While Le Scouarnec has asked his victims for forgiveness, many of them have questioned the sincerity of his apologies, which he repeated almost mechanically over the weeks of the trial, sometimes word for word. "You are the worst mass paedophile who ever lived," said one of the lawyers representing the victims, Thomas Delaby, describing Le Scouarnec as an "atomic bomb of paedophilia". The victims "will never forgive you. Never," Delaby told the defendant. "Who are you trying to convince that you've changed?" said another lawyer, Delphine Caro. "Admitting everything is admitting nothing," added a third lawyer, Giovanni Bertho-Briand. The surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017 despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children and colleagues raising their concerns. Le Scouarnec might stand trial again in the future, the public prosecutor said. Prosecutors opened two investigations, one of which concerns unidentified or newly reported victims of Le Scouarnec. There has been frustration among some that the trial has not had the impact in France they hoped for. The case has not won the attention given to the case of Dominique Pelicot, who was jailed last year for recruiting dozens of strangers to rape his now ex-wife Gisele. But Health Minister Yannick Neuder said on Wednesday he would work with Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin to ensure that "never again will we find ourselves in a situation where patients and vulnerable children" are exposed to predators. A collective of the survivors is set to meet with Neuder in June.
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
French court to deliver verdict in landmark child sex abuse case involving 299 victims
A French court will deliver its verdict Wednesday in one of the country's largest-ever child sex abuse cases, which has raised questions about how a pedophile surgeon was able to rape hundreds of victims over a period spanning more than two decades. Joël Le Scouarnec, a 74-year-old former surgeon, stands accused of raping and sexually assaulting 299 children. On Friday, prosecutors requested the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, describing Le Scouarnec as 'a devil in a white coat.' He's already serving a 15-year prison sentence, for a conviction in 2020 for the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two nieces. The new trial in Brittany, western France, began in February and has laid bare a pattern of abuse between 1989 and 2014. Most of the victims were unconscious or sedated hospital patients at the time of the assaults. The average age was 11. Among the victims were 158 boys and 141 girls. Accusations of inaction During the trial, advocacy groups have accused health authorities of inaction after they were notified as soon as 2005 of Le Scouarnec's conviction for possessing child pornography pictures. At the time, no measures were taken to suspend his medical license or limit his contact with children and Le Scouarnec continued his abuse in hospitals until his arrest in 2017. 'Should Joël Le Scouarnec have been the only one in the defendant's box?' prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger asked during his closing arguments. ' More could have been done," Kellenberger said. "Things could have been done differently, even within the notorious layers of French bureaucracy, where responsibilities are so often passed from one authority to another until, eventually, that responsibility is lost, and hits innocent lives." Le Scouarnec has confessed to all the sexual abuse alleged by the 299 civil parties, as well as to other assaults that are now beyond the statute of limitations. In a shocking admission during the trial, he also acknowledged sexually abusing his granddaughter — a statement made in front of her visibly distraught parents. Le Scouarnec had been convicted in 2005 for possessing and importing child sexual abuse material and sentenced to four months of suspended prison time. Despite that conviction, he was appointed as a hospital practitioner the following year. Child protection groups that have joined the proceedings as civil parties hope that the case will help strengthen the legal framework to prevent such abuse. Dismantling taboos Le Scouarnec's trial came as activists continue to push to dismantle taboos that have long surrounded sexual abuse in France. The most prominent case was that of Gisèle Pélicot, who was drugged and raped by her now ex-husband and dozens of other men who were convicted and sentenced in December to three to 20 years in prison. In a separate case focusing on alleged abuse at a Catholic school, an inquiry commission of the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, is investigating allegations of physical and sexual abuse over five decades. Victims of Le Scouarnec have, however, complained of a perceived lack of attention. "This trial, which could have served as an open-air laboratory to expose the serious failings of our institutions, seems to leave no mark on the government, the medical community, or society at large,' a group of victims said in a statement. Horrific notebooks Not all victims were initially aware they had been abused. Some were contacted by investigators after their names appeared in journals kept by Le Scouarnec, in which he meticulously documented his crimes. Others only realized they had been hospitalized at the time after checking medical records. Two of his victims took their own lives some years before the trial. Using the cover of medical procedures, the former abdominal and digestive surgeon took advantage of moments when children were alone in their hospital rooms. His method was to disguise sexual abuse as clinical care, targeting young patients who were unlikely to remember the encounters. The notebooks, which detail the abuse in graphic language, have become central to the prosecution's case. Despite the scope of the allegations, Le Scouarnec has remained calm and composed throughout the trial. 'I didn't see them as people,' he told the court. 'They were the destination of my fantasies. As the trial went on, I began to see them as individuals, with emotions, anger, suffering and distress.' He said his first act of abuse occurred in 1985, when he raped his 5-year-old niece. Detached and emotionless While he offered apologies to some victims, his demeanor struck many as detached and emotionless. 'I don't show emotion, that's just how I am,' he said. 'That doesn't mean I don't feel it, but I don't express it.' The case first came to light in April 2017, when a 6-year-old neighbor told her mother that the man next door had exposed himself and touched her through the fence separating their properties. A search of his home uncovered more than 300,000 photos, 650 pedophilic, zoophilic and scatological video files, as well as notebooks where he described himself as a pedophile and detailed his actions. 'Joël Le Scouarnec says he no longer feels any sexual attraction to children, but there's no way to verify that,' Kellenberger, the prosecutor, told the court. 'Experts concluded that we cannot rely on his word alone and that his potential for future danger remains significant.' Prosecutors are seeking not only a 20-year prison sentence with a two-thirds minimum term, but also a post-sentence preventive detention, a rarely used measure in France that applies to the country's most dangerous offenders. If approved, Le Scouarnec could be held indefinitely in a secure socio-medical facility, even after serving his time. A third trial is expected in the coming years, following the emergence of new allegations during this trial, including further abuse involving his granddaughter.
News.com.au
26-05-2025
- News.com.au
French surgeon says deserves no 'leniency' after decades of abusing patients
A French surgeon who sexually abused hundreds of patients over two decades, most of them minors, said Monday he was asking for no "leniency" as his three-month trial nears a verdict. Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, has admitted to sexually assaulting or raping 299 patients -- 256 of them under 15 -- in hospitals in western France between 1989 and 2014, many while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations. The prosecution on Friday requested the maximum 20-year sentence for the former surgeon and also made the rare demand that he should be held in a centre for treatment and supervision even after any release. "I am not asking the court for leniency," Le Scouarnec said in his closing statement. "Simply grant me the right to become a better person," he added. The verdict from the court in Vannes in the western Brittany region is expected on Wednesday. "You were the devil and he sometimes is dressed in a white coat," prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger told Le Scouarnec on Friday, adding that an additional trial could be required to cover the cases of further victims whose abuse is not part of the current case. - 'Not asking to escape' - Le Scouranec is charged in this trial with 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults and is set to emerge this week as one of the most prolific convicted sex predators in France's history. His defence team said he was not contesting the accusations or the prosecutor's sentencing request, but insisted his expressions of regret towards the victims were genuine, despite many not believing him. "Joel Le Scouarnec is not asking to escape the sentence requested by the public prosecutor," said one of the lawyers, Maxime Tessier. The lawyer asked the court to take into account the "exceptional" nature of Le Scouarnec's confession when he admitted all the charges against him in March. "Joel Le Scouarnec has never blamed anyone else, he has always said, 'I am the only guilty party, I am the only one responsible,'" Tessier said. "The court must be convinced of Joel Le Scouarnec's sincerity." He has repeated apologies almost mechanically over the weeks of the trial, sometimes word for word, in a monotone voice. And while the surgeon admitted responsibility, he also repeatedly said he did not remember his acts. - 'Learn lessons' - The months of hearings have been marked by horror over the acts of the ex-surgeon -- who confessed to the abuse -- but also frustration over the failure of medical and judicial authorities to act sooner. The former surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017, despite a 2005 conviction for owning sexually abusive images of children. Le Scouarnec is already in prison after being sentenced in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces. Some parties in the trial voiced frustration that it had not had the impact in France they had hoped for in the media and politics. The case has not won the level of attention given to that of Dominique Pelicot, who was jailed last year for recruiting dozens of strangers to rape his now ex-wife Gisele. Earlier this month, around 20 victims of Le Scouarnec and their relatives staged a protest in front of the court over the "silence of the political world". They demanded "an interministerial commission" to "learn lessons" from the Le Scouarnec case and prevent similar events from happening again. "We are appalled to see that this 'trial of the century' is not a watershed event in the eyes of the government and, more broadly, the general public," the group said. "They're trying to make him out to be a monster, but this monster is the society that created him and allowed him to persist," said Manon Lemoine, now 36, one of the victims who Le Scouarnec admits to raping when she was 11.
