Joel Le Scouarnec, the former surgeon who has been on trial for sexually abusing hundreds of his young patients, most under the age of 15 has confessed to his crimes, said one of his lawyers on Thursday (March 10).

Advertisment

The 74-year-old former surgeon has been on trial since March in what is one of France's largest child sex abuse cases.

'Duty to tell the truth'

Le Scouarnec, during the trial on Thursday, speaking behind closed doors, admitted guilt for all 299 of his victims. The disgraced former surgeon said "I have a duty to tell the truth," his lawyer Maxime Tessier told AFP.

Advertisment

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

Tessier said that he had asked Le Scouarnec if he admits that the hundreds of people mentioned in his notebooks were "all potential victims of his acts and he said: 'Yes'."

"I asked him if he agreed that the 299 charges were (criminal) offences and he said: 'Yes'," added the lawyer.

Advertisment

Tessier said that he "asked the court to record in the minutes of the proceedings that Mr Le Scouarnec had admitted his guilt for the 299 charges".

Frederique Giffard, a lawyer representing around 15 civil parties lauded the admission of guilt and noted that it was "a crucial step in allowing victims to move on, and it is good that it has happened at this stage of the trial".

Also read | 'Paedophile' ex-surgeon admits to 'hideous' crimes in largest child sexual abuse trial of France

"I think that he finally understood, by listening to the civil parties taking the stand over the last 10 days, that he was not going to be able to credibly maintain his position of continuing to deny the facts in certain cases," Giffard told AFP.

Accusations against Joel Le Scouarnec

Le Scouarnec who has been on trial in the western city of Vannes since early March is charged with assaulting or raping the patients. He carried out his crimes at a dozen hospitals between 1989 and 2014 and many of his victims were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations.

Also read | France issues 'invasion guides' for citizens. Is it because of the Russian threat?

This admission of guilt is significant. Before this, Le Scouarnec has only admitted to guilt on a case by case basis as the proceedings progressed.

Earlier, Le Scouarnec had denied many of the accusations levelled against him, insisting that he was only performing his medical duties. However, throughout the trial, attention remained focused on his notebooks, in which the former surgeon meticulously recorded the abuse he inflicted on his patients.

(With inputs from agencies)