256 of Le Scouarnec's victims were under 15 years old at time of abuse, says French court
Former French surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting 299 patients, including children, over a period spanning 25 years.
In one of France's largest child sex abuse cases, the Morbihan criminal court handed down the sentence, two-thirds of which is to be served before eligibility for parole, after a three-month trial marked by emotional testimonies and the ex-surgeon's own full confession, the French broadcaster BFMTV reported.
Le Scouarnec, 74, had admitted in March to all charges, including 111 rapes and 188 sexual assaults, committed between 1989 and 2014. According to the court, 256 of the victims were under 15 years old at the time of the abuse.
The prosecution had requested the maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment, accompanied by a security period, citing the aggravated circumstances of the crimes.
In his final statement Monday, Le Scouarnec told the court he was not asking for leniency.
"I have become aware of the immense pain my crimes have caused them (the victims) and their families," he said.
His lawyer, Maxime Tessier, had urged the court to apply justice equally, noting the former surgeon's confessions and acknowledgement of the harm inflicted.
Le Scouarnec was already serving a 15-year prison sentence handed down in 2020 for rapes and sexual assaults on several minor victims.
Two further investigations remain open. One seeks to identify any additional or newly reported victims, while the other, opened against persons unknown, aims to establish whether any relatives or associates were aware of Le Scouarnec's crimes.
During the trial, one of Le Scouarnec's defense lawyers, Thibaut Kurzawa, emphasized: “If there is only one guilty person here, there is not only one responsible party.”
