A French court on Wednesday sentenced retired surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, to the maximum 20 years in prison for sexually abusing hundreds of patients—most of them children—over more than two decades.
The three-month trial exposed the horrific scale of his crimes, along with the trauma suffered by his victims, and raised serious questions about why authorities failed to stop him sooner.
Le Scouarnec, now one of France’s most prolific convicted sexual offenders, was already serving a 15-year sentence from 2020 for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two nieces.
Presiding judge Aude Buresi handed down the maximum sentence allowed for aggravated rape in France, where individual charges are not combined to extend prison time. The court ruled that Le Scouarnec will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least two-thirds of the sentence.
The court considered the extreme gravity of the crimes due to the number of victims, their young age, and the compulsive nature of the abuse. However, it rejected prosecutors’ rare request to impose post-sentence detention in a treatment and supervision centre, citing Le Scouarnec’s “desire to make amends”.
‘Forgotten Victims’
During the trial in Vannes, Brittany, Le Scouarnec admitted to sexually abusing or raping 299 patients—256 of whom were under the age of 15—between 1989 and 2014, often while they were under anaesthesia or recovering from surgery. He faced charges for 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults.
Protesters gathered outside the court, holding placards with messages such as “Never again” and “I accuse you”, and bearing the names of 355 victims—including those whose cases were dismissed or not pursued. “We want to be together,” said survivor Manon Lemoine.
Another survivor, Céline Mahuteau, addressed a letter to President Emmanuel Macron, criticising France’s lack of a national policy to prevent paedophilia.
‘Major Pervert’
In his closing remarks, Le Scouarnec said, “I am not asking the court for leniency. Simply grant me the right to become a better person.” One of his lawyers, Maxime Tessier, asked the court to consider the “exceptional” nature of Le Scouarnec’s full confession.
Le Scouarnec acknowledged responsibility for the deaths of two former patients: Mathis Vinet, who died of a suspected suicide in 2021, and another man who died in 2020. He had documented his crimes in meticulous notes, including victims’ names, ages, addresses, and descriptions of the abuse.
In these writings, Le Scouarnec referred to himself as a “major pervert” and a “paedophile,” adding, “And I am very happy about it.”
Despite his repeated apologies throughout the trial, many victims questioned his sincerity, saying the statements were cold and rehearsed.
“You are the worst mass paedophile who ever lived,” said Thomas Delaby, a lawyer for the victims, who described him as an “atomic bomb of paedophilia.”
Systemic Failures
The case has renewed public outcry over how Le Scouarnec was allowed to continue practising. In 2005, he received a four-month suspended sentence after police traced his credit card to online purchases of child sexual abuse material. Yet, he faced no medical sanctions and was never ordered to undergo treatment.
Though many hoped the trial would spark national reckoning, it failed to attract the same media attention as other recent French abuse cases.
Health Minister Yannick Neuder pledged to work with Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin to ensure such crimes are never repeated. “Never again should patients and vulnerable children be left at the mercy of predators,” he said in a France Info interview.