French ex-surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec on trial for abusing nearly 300 patients says he assaulted son’s friends

A French former surgeon on trial for sexually abusing his patients, on Friday admitted to abusing his son's friends.

"I'd make the most of (one of my sons) bringing friends (home) to abuse them," he said as quoted by AFP.

Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, is on trial after being accused of raping or sexually assaulting nearly 300 patients—most of them children, some under anaesthesia—making it one of France’s biggest child sex abuse cases. Of the 299 victims, 256 were under the age of 15, with the youngest being just one year old and the oldest 70.

Already serving a prison sentence for abusing four children, including two of his nieces, Le Scouarnec now faces fresh charges for assaulting 299 patients between 1989 and 2014 at a dozen hospitals.


"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," said 42-year-old Amelie Leveque, one of the victims. "But I'm scared to see him again," she admitted.

Le Scouarnec kept detailed records of his crimes, writing down victims' names, ages, addresses, and descriptions of the abuse in handwritten diaries. In his notes, he openly called himself a "major pervert" and a "paedophile," even stating, "And I am very happy about it."

If found guilty, Le Scouarnec could face a maximum of 20 years in prison. Under French law, sentences for multiple offenses are not added together, no matter how many victims are involved.

First convicted in 2005, Le Scouarnec's crimes remained undiscovered until after his retirement in 2017. The full scale of his abuse was revealed when a six-year-old girl accused him of rape, leading police to investigate and uncover his detailed diaries.