Hello and welcome to the details of French paedophile surgeon on trial in France for abusing 299 patients and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Files are displayed in the courtroom during the opening day of French surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec’s trial for the rape and sexual abuse of four child at the courthouse in Saintes, western France, on March 13, 2020. French retired surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, will face a new four-month trial starting in Vannes on February 24, on charges of assaulting or raping 299 patients. — AFP pic
RENNES (France), Feb 24 — A former surgeon is to go on trial in France today charged with raping or sexually assaulting almost 300 former patients, most of them children.
Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, is already in jail after a court in 2020 found him guilty of abusing four children, including two of his nieces.
In the latest trial, to last four months, he faces allegations that he also assaulted or raped 299 patients, many while waking up from anaesthetic or during post-op checkups, at a dozen hospitals between 1989 and 2014.
In total, 256 of the 299 victims were under 15, with the youngest aged one and the oldest aged 70.
The trial is likely to be a new shock for France.
It comes just two months after Frenchman Dominique Pelicot was convicted of enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife Gisele Pelicot, who has since divorced him and become a feminist hero for refusing to be ashamed.
In this case, Le Scouarnec is the sole defendant accused of crimes against hundreds of victims.
The trial in the city of Vannes in the western region of Brittany will be held in public, but seven days of testimony from victims who were targeted while minors will be held behind closed doors.
If convicted, Le Scouarnec faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison — French law does not allow sentences to be added together even when there are multiple victims.
‘Collective failure’
The surgeon practised for decades until his retirement despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children and colleagues raising their concerns.
Le Scouarnec was practising in the western town of Lorient in 2004 when the FBI alerted French authorities that he was among hundreds in France who had been consulting sex abuse images of children online.
A court in nearby Vannes handed him a suspended four-month jail sentence the following year.
But by that time the doctor had already moved on to work in another Brittany town, Quimperle, where he was promoted despite the management being made aware of his conviction.
He then moved to southwestern France, where he worked until his retirement in 2017.
Investigators uncovered his alleged crimes after he retired in 2017, when a six-year-old girl accused him of rape and police found accounts of abuse in his diaries.
Victims and child rights advocates say the case highlights systemic shortcomings that allowed Le Scouarnec to repeatedly commit sexual crimes.
Frederic Benoist, a lawyer for French advocacy group La Voix de l’Enfant (The Child’s Voice), said the fact Le Scouarnec was never barred from practising was the result of “collective failure”.
A separate investigation has been opened by regional prosecutors over these failures, though it is not yet targeting any individual or institution. — AFP
* If you are experiencing sexual violence, the following hotlines offer free and confidential support: Talian Kasih at 15999 or WhatsApp 019-2615999 (24/7); All Women’s Action Society at 016-2374221/016-2284221 (9.30am-5.30pm); and Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) at 03-30008858 or SMS/WhatsApp TINA 018-9888058 (24/7)
* If you suspect child abuse, call the following hotlines for free and confidential support: Talian Kasih at 15999 or WhatsApp 019-2615999 (24/7); Talian BuddyBear at 1800-18-2327(BEAR) (noon-midnight daily); and One Crisis Centre (24/7) Wilayah Persekutuan at 03-26155555 (Kuala Lumpur General Hospital), 03-61454333 (Sungai Buloh Hospital) or 03-83124200 (Putrajaya Hospital).
These were the details of the news French paedophile surgeon on trial in France for abusing 299 patients for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
