A former surgeon, Joel Le Scouarnec, has confessed to sexually abusing 299 of his patients during his trial in France. The 74-year-old has been on trial in Vannes since March, facing charges for assaulting or raping patients at multiple hospitals between 1989 and 2014. In a significant development during the trial, Le Scouarnec admitted his guilt for all the victims mentioned in notebooks seized by investigators, totaling 158 men and 141 women, most of whom were under 15 at the time of the abuse. This admission marks an important step in allowing the victims to move forward, as his previous denials were shattered by the overwhelming evidence presented in court. Despite a previous conviction in 2020 for abusing four children, Le Scouarnec’s dark past only came to light after his retirement in 2017, when allegations of rape surfaced and incriminating diary entries were discovered on his computers. The prosecutor estimates the number of possible victims to be 349, shedding light on the extent of the horrific crimes committed by the former surgeon.
