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French PEDO Surgeon Who Abused Children For DECADES Gets 20 Years
French PEDO Surgeon Who Abused Children For DECADES Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison
BIGGEST Child Abuse Trial in French History Reveals Decades of Failures in Medical Oversight
The Guardian 29 MAY 2025
A French former surgeon has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of patients, mostly under the age of 15, after the biggest child abuse trial in Frances history a ruling that adds to pressure on the government to address failings in the health and justice system.
Jo?l Le Scouarnec, 74, whose guilty verdict confirmed him as one of the most prolific convicted sexual predators in France, worked as a digestive surgeon in public and private hospitals across Brittany and the west of France, often operating on children with appendicitis.
During the harrowing three month trial in Vannes, Brittany, he stood accused of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults between 1989 and 2014 at a dozen hospitals. Many of the children he assaulted were under anaesthetic or waking up after operations. Some were assaulted in their hospital beds. The average age of the victims was 11.
The French health minister, Yannick Neuder, said he would work with the justice minister to ensure that never again will we find ourselves in a situation where patients and vulnerable children? were exposed to predators.
Le Scouarnec eventually admitted all the assaults in court, saying in his final statement: I am not asking the court for leniency. During the trial, he said: I was a surgeon who benefited from my status to attack children, I don?t deny that.
Psychological assessments found that he remained extremely dangerous
Le Scouarnecs lawyer, Maxime Tessier, said the French medical world and politicians must learn lessons from the major dysfunction of our health system, which had not stopped Le Scouarnecs decades of abuse.
Le Scouarnec was flagged to the French authorities by the FBI in 2004 for viewing child abuse imagery on the dark web. In 2005 he was convicted in a French court of owning child abuse imagery and given a four year suspended prison sentence, but the court did not rule that the surgeon should never work with children.
He continued to gain prestigious jobs in hospitals across France until his retirement in 2017, systematically abusing children who had undergone surgery.
Victims groups and child protection campaigners said the trial had raised the issue of serious failings by the state and officials. They said there should be a full government assessment of how the surgeon had been able to continue working and abusing for so long.
The 20 year prison sentence is the maximum Le Scouarnec could have received for aggravated rape. In France, sentences are not added together, unlike in the US, where Le Scouarnec would have been jailed for 2,000 years, according to the state prosecutor, St?phane Kellenberger.
Victims expressed anger at his sentence, with cries of shame on the justice system as they watched the proceedings.
Le Scouarnec will not be able to ask for parole until two thirds of his sentence is served. The court rejected a rare demand from prosecutors that he should be held in a centre for treatment and supervision even after any release. The court cited his age and his desire to make amends.
One victim, Am?lie L?v?que, said she felt humiliated by this verdict
Le Scouarnec is already in prison after being sentenced in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children. Kellenberger said there was likely to be a further trial after the prosecutors office opened an investigation to find more victims whose abuse was not part of the latest case.
You were the devil and sometimes the devil is dressed in a white coat, Kellenberger told Le Scouarnec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaUWjEVqLUY
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