Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, has previously served time in prison for the rape and sexual assault of four victims but faces a new trial next week after police discovered diaries detailing hundreds of incidents of abuse.
A paedophile surgeon convicted of raping and assaulting his six-year-old neighbour kept a diary detailing his abuse of hundreds of people, including patients under anaesthetic.
Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, was jailed in 2020 for the rape and sexual abuse of his child neighbour, as well as two nieces and a 4-year-old patient. However, during an investigation, police in western France uncovered electronic records detailing three decades of rapes and sexual assaults on young patients in medical institutions.
Prosecutors have now charged him with aggravated rape and sexual assault against 299 people, most of them children. Some of the alleged victims were drugged during the abuse.
In numerous diary entries, Le Scouarnec allegedly referred to himself as a “pedophile” and recorded the names and circumstances of his abuse, as well as the date and location. Authorities are now trying to match these dates to the victims.
Le Scouarnec will go on trial in the Brittany town of Vannes on Monday on those charges, in what will be the largest child sex abuse case in French history. Prosecutors say Le Scouarnec has admitted to investigators many of the charges against him, but his lawyers have declined to comment ahead of the trial.
One victim, who was 12 when Le Scouarnec allegedly abused her, said: “I realise that this surgeon had no right to operate on me. I feel betrayed by the authorities… Why didn't anyone stop this surgeon from working with children?”
Many of the anesthetized patients had no memory of the alleged abuse. However, psychiatrists recorded symptoms of post-traumatic stress in the victims, according to court documents.
One of the young patients, Mathis Vinetoux, was 10 years old in 2007 when his father and grandfather took him to Quimperlé Hospital with stomach pains. His grandfather, Roland Vinetoux, 78, ignored the surgeon's instructions to leave Mathis alone in the hospital overnight.
His family said that after a hospital visit, Mathis changed and retreated into a world of alcohol and drugs. He died of an overdose at age 24 in 2021, three years after police told him he had allegedly been abused and had flashbacks.
Vinet and his wife, who are the plaintiffs in the case, said they believed Mathis had committed suicide. His grandmother, Maury Vinet, said, “The day he passed away, we said we would continue the fight. Yes, Mathis is gone, but we told him we would always be with him.”
Another alleged victim was Amelie Levesque, who was operated on by Le Scouarnec in 1991 and is convinced he raped her. She said: “I always knew something abnormal had happened.”
Le Scouarnec received a four-month suspended sentence in 2005 for possessing child pornography. The following year, he was hired as a surgeon at the Quimperlé public hospital.
Court documents say a hospital psychiatrist alerted officials in 2006 to concerns about Le Scouarnec's behavior, but the surgeon continued to work with children.
The prosecutor in Lorient, Stéphane Kellenberger, whose office was investigating Le Scouarnec's alleged crimes, said he had opened a separate preliminary investigation to determine whether agencies or individuals who might have prevented the violence bear any criminal responsibility. The trial will begin in France on Monday.
The terrible events took place several months after 71
Sourse: www.mirror.co.uk
