‘Paedophile’ ex-surgeon confesses to preying on son’s friends during France’s largest child sexual abuse trial

Joel Le Scouarnec, the former French surgeon on trial for sexually abusing nearly 300 of his young patients on Friday (March 7), confessed to preying on children in his home.

A predator to his core

The 74-year-old, who has been on trial in the western city of Vannes for the past one week, has admitted to raping a friend of his children.

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Scouarnec is charged with assaulting or raping 299 of his patients between 1989 and 2014 at a dozen hospitals. As per an AFP report, many of his victims were under the effects of anesthesia or were waking up from operations at the time of the abuse.

On Friday, he admitted to raping ‘S’ a friend of his children. The assault happened in the early 1990s.

The woman, who has not been named as she was a mere child at the time of the assault, told a court in western France of the abuse she suffered while visiting the Le Scouarnec household. She revealed that the surgeon took her into the bedroom and “raped” her. As per the survivor, her mother and the doctor’s wife were chatting in the living room while he assaulted her in the bedroom.

She revealed that he tried to carry out his twisted fantasies twice more. Once he followed her into the bathroom and digitally raped her. The second time, Scouarnec tried to isolate her, but she managed to escape and run back to her mother.

Joel Le Scouarnec admits the abuse

The doctor, who has earlier claimed to not remember most of the acts he’s charged with, admitted to the “bathroom” episode. He said that he would “make the most of (one of my sons) bringing friends (home) to abuse them.”

He detailed that the day he abused “S” in the bathroom, “I was on the lookout for an opportunity, and there, I saw little S. go to the toilet. So I went to the toilet to commit the acts as I described them.”

“I only thought about myself,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)