Reuters
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A French court on Wednesday found a surgeon who had retired on charges of rape and sexually assaulting a patient in a trial that rocked France.
In a trial that raised unpleasant questions about the publicly run health care system, Joel Le Skaurneck told the court that he committed “despicable conduct” over 25 years while working as a doctor in western France.
Le Scowlneck, 74, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Le Scouarnec’s patient abuse, many children at the time, are considered to be the worst case of pediatric performance in France to go to trial. He was charged with worsening rape or sexual assault on 299 victims.
“I know that the harm I caused is no repair,” Le Skaurneck told the opening of his trial in February.
“I acknowledge my actions and their consequences to all these people and their loved ones.
The trial comes at a time when considering a French sex crime after the conviction of Dominique Pericot, who was convicted in December of unconsciously drugging his wife and seducing dozens of men into his home and raping her.
Le Scouarnec is already in prison for his previous rape conviction. In 2020 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting a child’s neighbor and two of his nie and a four-year-old patient.
The victims and their families publicly asked why local and national health officials were unable to stop Le Scaalnek. In 2005, he was convicted of downloading images of child sexual abuse and sentenced to prison, but was able to continue his job at a public hospital.
Dozens of victims and rights activists gathered outside the court before the verdict, holding banners made of hundreds of white paper in one black silhouette for each victim. Some papers had a name and age, while others called the victim “anonymous.”
The extent of Le Scouarnec’s abuse was revealed after his re-arrest in 2017 on suspicion of raping a six-year-old neighbor.
Police have discovered details of more than 20 years of rape and sexual assault on young patients in local hospitals, as well as an electronic diary that appears to detail a cache of sex dolls, wigs and child pornography.
The trial took place in Vannes, a small town in Brittany.
The local prosecutors who led the Le Scouarnec investigation began individual investigations to see if there was criminal liability by an agency or individual who could have prevented abuse.
