Sick surgeon ‘raped & abused 300 kids often under anaesthetic’ for 25yrs after litany of missed chances to stop him
The surgeon is already facing jail time in another shocking case
A VILE surgeon has been accused of raping nearly 300 children while they were under anaesthetic for 25 years in the biggest paedophile case in French history.
Joel Le Scouarnec, 73, who has already been sentenced to 15 years behind bars in another shocking case, will face the courts again this month.
The disgraced surgeon has been accused of abusing hundreds of children between 1989 and 2014.
Le Scouarnec will face more than 100 rape charges and over 150 sexual assault charges when his trial starts in Vannes, north-west France.
Worrying questions have been raised after it was revealed a litany of chances to stop the monster were missed.
An FBI warning had alerted the French authorities that the former surgeon had been visiting child abuse websites.
Le Scouarnec was handed a four month suspended sentence for that vile crime in 2005 but his career was not affected.
It was revealed the French health ministry was made aware of this conviction in 2006 but did not remove Le Scouarnec from his job.
His case has raised questions around a supposed coverup by his colleagues and hospitals he worked at.
Le Scouarnec’s previous conviction had sparked a huge debate at the Quimperlé hospital when one of his colleagues accidentally discovered his sentence, according to France Info.
This worker wrote a letter to the management saying they had “doubts about (his) ability to remain completely calm when in contact with young children”.
Despite this, a unanimous decision was made to keep him at work with no extra checks.
His case had also been escalated to the French health ministry’s disciplinary department in November 2006 but no action was taken.
The ministry even allowed Le Scouarnec to continue working in 2015, despite passing the legal retirement limit.
The nearly 300 reported child victims that the disgraced doctor will be back in court for, were supposedly mostly abused in the hospital he worked in.
Le Scouarnec stopped working at the hospital when he was finally imprisoned in 2017 when his six-year-old neighbour reported rapes.
The former doctor was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2020 for raping and sexually assaulting four young girls.
Two of these victims were his nieces, one was his neighbour, and the fourth was a former patient of his.
After his 2017 arrest, investigators made shocking discoveries at his home.
Sickening child-sized sex dolls and over 300,000 child abuse images were discovered.
Authorities also found diaries that detailed sexual acts with children, in which he described himself as “exhibitionist, voyeur, sadist, masochist, scatologist, fetishist, pedophile”, according to .
He added: “And I am very happy about it.”
His diaries reportedly described the apparent crimes in great detail and without an ounce of regret or empathy.
Le Scouarnec denied these words were a reality and claimed they were just his sick “fantasies”.
Authorities believe the sick man often acted on his apparent victims while they were asleep and he was operating on them in the hospitals he worked at, in Morbihan, Finistère, Indre-et-Loire, and Charente-Maritime, according to Le Parisien.
Some of his apparent victims, who are now older, claimed the doctor touched them inappropriately even when their parents were also in the room.
The sick doctor could now face 20 years behind bars, which is the maximum sentence – excluding repeat offences – for aggravated rape in France.
The child sex cases that have rocked France
FRANCE has been shaken by several shocking child abuse and rape cases.
Joel Le Scouarnec, 73, will face the courts again in a new court case accusing the former-surgeon of abusing nearly 300 children.
He was previously sentenced to 15 years behind bars for sexually assaulting four children.
The surgeon has been accused of assaulting kids between 1989 and 2014.
Authorities believe he could have also done this to children as he operated on them under anaesthetic.
The Outreau case from the early 2000s also shocked France.
An extensive paedophile network was revealed after a criminal case in northern France.
A couple confessed to abusing children between 1997 to 2000 but after they pointed fingers at friends and neighbours, the huge web was unraveled.
Among the 18 suspects were a priest who lived in their apartment building, a court bailiff from a neighbouring town, his wife, a taxi driver, a labourer, and his son.
FRANCE’S SHAME
This has not been the only horrifying rape case to shock France.
The country’s most notorious serial rapist, Dominique Pelicot, was sentenced for organising the sickening mass rape of his wife, Gisèle, for nine years.
This beast had recruited at least 70 men from online chatrooms to rape his wife and filmed the assaults – even including their next-door neighbour.
He stored around 20,000 images and videos of the perverted acts on a stick.
A huge trial of all the men complicit in Gisèle’s rape was held in 2024.
A total of 47 men were found guilty of rape, most against Gisèle, while two were convicted of attempted rape and two of sexual assault.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.