VANES, France – The ex-wife of a former surgeon in central France spoke to the court on Wednesday about the history of nearly 30 years of children who abused children, including family members, before being arrested in 2017.
Marie France Lermite, 71, testified that her ex-husband Joel Le Skaurneck had attacked the suspect a few feet away in Palais de Justice, Vanesse, the town of Brittany in northwestern France.
“I never had any doubts about my husband,” Ramit said, speaking in a studded voice that can sometimes be barely above the whisper.
Le Scouarnec, 74, has been charged with rape or sexually assaulting 299 patients over nearly 30 years, most of whom are under the age of 15, many of whom have recovered from surgery.
Prosecutors and his lawyer, Maxime Tessier, have already sentenced 15 years in prison for the abuse of four other children, Le Scouarnec, has admitted the “majority” of all charges, but not all.
“I lied to you, so I can continue to enjoy what I am,” he told his ex-wife at the end of her five-hour testimony.
In France, the defendant can respond to an eyewitness if the judge grants it.
Judge Aude Buresi led Lhermitte through a review of her husband’s writings that investigators continued their hard drives, which they said were documenting decades of abuse. Alternately combative and emotional in the position of a witness – “Am I on trial?” she demanded at one point, and Lhermitte repeatedly asked questions, putting her understated on the judge.
Asked if she was the woman hinted at in the 1996 aisle, Le Skaurneck wrote that “she knows I am a pedophile” and “she knows I am a pedophile.”
Investigators believe the surgeon was referring to his wife, according to court documents.
When asked about the rape of two young nie in the 1980s, Lhermitte denied knowing about them and refused to see an overhead photo of Nie’s genitals, which the judge said his ex-husband had taken in the 1980s.
Lescouarnec is currently serving in prison for 15 years after a 2020 conviction of raping and sexually assaulting Nie when she was a child, sister, a 4-year-old patient and a 6-year-old neighbor. It was a 2017 neighbor rape complaint that led to the surgeon’s arrest and subsequent investigation.
When she learns of allegations that her husband has begun to attack a third Nie, she responds by describing Nie as a girl craving attention.
“She was always hung around my husband’s neck,” she said. “I asked myself that she was threatening him.”
Bursis replied, “She was five years old, do you think she operated your husband?”
“Showing her, she’s in a mess,” Ramit said. The crowd in the crowded gallery let out a breath.
In the stand, Lhermitte says he was raped by two former Capanion and two uncles, and says he never told his husband about the abuse.
The victim took a short walk from the courthouse and watched the trial by video link in the 450-seat auditorium. Two other power rooms at former law schools broadcast trials to the media and audience. The trial is expected to take approximately four months.
On Monday, Nie’s Ramitt was accused of being careful, and told NBC News that her aunt’s denial this month was a “package of lies” that she made in the West France newspaper.
NBC News does not usually name her a victim of sexual abuse, but Alexandra, 47, has agreed to use her name. She expects to testify next week that her uncle abused her from the age of five to 13, but the incident happened too long ago.
As early as 1996, Alexandra said her mother had spoken with Ramit about her unusual love for her husband’s little girl. She added that her aunt replied, “All men like little girls.”
Asked about the exchange in court, Lhermitte denied that she had said it.
Lermite’s testimony, which lasted more than four hours, comes after Le Scowlneck’s brother, Patrick Le Scowlneck, 70, told the court via video link that she knew about her husband’s abuse in 1996. “She knew what her husband was doing and did nothing.”
He added that after being arrested in 2017, he cut off ties with his brother. “I think he should be jailed until he dies,” he said. “That would be good for society.”
If convicted, Le Skaurneck will face up to 20 years in prison and will run concurrently with a 15-year term.
