Weeks after a mass rape trial involving a man who drugged his wife and introduced strangers dwelling to assault her, France is once more reeling as a brand new alleged predator seems in court docket.
A trial is underway in Vannes, France, of 74-year-old Joel Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon accused of raping or sexually assaulting 299 folks, virtually all of them kids who have been his sufferers. It’s the largest trial associated to alleged baby intercourse abuse in France – and one of many largest on the planet.
His ex-wife, Marie-France Le Scouarnec, took the stand on Wednesday – and denied she had any information of her husband’s actions. “There was nothing that might have made me assume that. Nothing,” she informed the court docket.
“I by no means had an inkling. It is so enormous, so unthinkable, inconceivable that my husband may have completed all that,” she stated.
The alleged assaults occurred over 25 years, between 1989 and 2014, based on the prosecution. The typical age of the youngsters — each ladies and boys — was 11.
The prosecution claims most of the victims have been nonetheless below anesthesia or simply popping out of it once they have been assaulted. Others have been barely awake of their hospital beds because the surgeon allegedly assaulted them as he made his early morning rounds.
On the primary day of the trial, which began on Monday, Le Scouarnec informed the court docket he had “dedicated heinous acts.” His lawyer stated he admitted to finishing up “the overwhelming majority” of the assaults of which he’s accused.
“I owe it to all these folks and their family members to take duty for my actions and the results they might have had,” Le Scouarnec informed the court docket.
The alleged abuse of Le Scouarnec’s former sufferers solely got here to mild in 2017, after his neighbors’ 6-year-old daughter informed her mother and father he had uncovered himself and touched her by the fence that divided their gardens.
Throughout a search of his dwelling, police stated they found exhausting drives containing greater than 300,000 images and movies depicting baby intercourse abuse. In addition they discovered notebooks with meticulous information of the alleged abuse of kid sufferers.
That investigation led to his conviction in December 2020 for the sexual abuse of 4 little ladies: the younger neighbor, a 4-year-old affected person and two of his nieces. He was sentenced to fifteen years in jail.
On Thursday, the previous surgeon’s sister, the mom of the 2 nieces, took the stand — and accused his ex-wife of “cruelty” and “lies.” The lady, Annie, whose final identify was not made public on the trial, stated Marie-France Le Scouarnec knew that her husband abused his nieces, which Marie-France Le Scouarnec had denied in court docket.
Annie stated the youngest of her two daughters confided in her in October 2000 that Le Scouarnec had sexually abused her. She informed the court docket that her brother admitted the assault to her, and stated that his spouse was conscious of what had occurred.
In 2005, Le Scouarnec was convicted of possession of kid sexual abuse photographs, after an FBI investigation into a global community. He was given a four-year suspended sentence. The court docket didn’t order any psychological followup or restriction on his work.
Le Scouarnec informed investigators that despite the fact that he informed his employers at a hospital in Quimperlé concerning the conviction, no explicit measures have been taken.
Throughout his profession, Le Scouarnec labored in plenty of hospitals throughout Brittany, a area in western France the place his trial is being held. That has led many to query how he may have carried out so many alleged rapes and assaults with out an alarm being raised.
Investigators stated that few of the victims had any reminiscence of the alleged assaults. For a lot of of them, it got here as an entire shock when police contacted them with proof of what had occurred, as recounted within the surgeon’s journals.
Outdoors the courthouse Monday, a small group of protesters brandished placards denouncing “greater than 20 years of silence” concerning the surgeon’s previous.
The trial is ready to final 4 months. Throughout that point, the 299 alleged victims — who at the moment are women and men — will likely be known as on to recount what they will keep in mind of their interactions with Le Scouarnec, who faces 20 years in jail if convicted.
contributed to this report.
