Vannes, France – A retired surgeon, accused of rape and sexual assault, admitted in court on Monday that he committed “terrifying” behavior as the biggest child sexual abuse case in France’s history progressed.
“If I’m showing up before you, one day, I committed a horrifying act because most of these people were just kids,” Joel Le Skaurneck said in a calm voice after the judge, the president of the five judge panel, asked if he had issued a statement after hearing the case.
Le Scowlneck, wearing a black coat and glasses, added that he was ready to take responsibility for his actions.
It was unclear how many victims mentioned the 74-year-old in his brief statement at Palais de Justice in Vanesse, a small town in Brittany in northwestern France.
Defence counsel Maxim Tessier told reporters outside the court that Le Skaurneck, who is now sentenced to 15 years in prison for abuse of four children, has admitted to the “majority” of the charges, not all.
Amélie Lévêque, 42, accused her of raping her while under anesthesia at just nine years old, and is expected to testify against him during trial, telling NBC News that she “didn’t think much about Le Scouarnec’s words.
“I really don’t believe he is sincere,” she said. “But I think it’s good that they let him give this little speech. We’ve always said he’s silent.”
Soren Podevin, president of the conflicting incest society, also pointed out that he has admitted responsibility, but “not necessarily with all actions.”
The trial, which is expected to last for four months, has been able to continue his job despite numerous warning signs, including a 2005 conviction that he has possessed images depicting child abuse downloaded from an internet site monitored by the FBI.
Several of the victim’s lawyers say a formerly respected local doctor should have been stripped of his medical privileges.
Instead, the father of three, Le Scouarnec moved to other public and private clinics in five regions of France, where he specialised in appendectomy, abdominal and gynecological surgery.
“If it wasn’t for the FBI, we wouldn’t have traced this to Joel Le Scowlneck,” said Francesca Satta, the victim’s lawyer.
The trial is expected to feature hundreds of witnesses, including Le Skullneck’s nie and family friends, who are now friends with family members in their 40s. These allegations occurred too long before they could be prosecuted under French law.
Much of the evidence against Le Skaurneck was carefully recorded by surgeons in a digital diary that continued the hard drive seized by investigators in the spring of 2017 after the mother of a 6-year-old neighbor reported that she raped the girl after luring a mesh fence in the yard, prosecutors said.
After his arrest, Le Skaurneck told investigators during several interrogations that he was “obsessed and destroyed” by “pedophile fantasies,” and began recording it in his diary, according to an outline of the case by the investigative judge.
These digital files dated in the early 1980s and include names of patients and others, including young families, along with a detailed explanation of their age, addresses and what was done to them, court documents.
According to an investigator’s report, when investigators searched Le Scouarnec’s home in May 2017, they found thousands of child pornographic images and photos of doctors carrying out sex with dolls and animals. The report also found around 5,000 videos of “violent nature.”
In 2020, Le Skaurneck was convicted of raping a young neighbor and three other people as a child. He currently works in prison for 15 years. He faces another 20 years if convicted of the latest charges. This is a statement that the lawyer will execute at the same time.
The average age of suspects for 158 men and 141 female victims in the current trial is 11 years old. The majority (256 years old) are under 15 at the time of assault, and most of them have recovered from anesthesia or surgery, prosecutors argue.
Court officials say they had a hard time finding a venue big enough to stage the trial. Eventually they decided to broadcast the trial in a former university building, about a five-minute walk from the courthouse in the heart of Banes, the town of Breton, with its port dotted with medieval walls, canals and yachts.
The victim and his family watch the trial on screen in a 450-seat auditorium.
More than 450 journalists certified to cover the trial can see live feeds in different parts of the building, away from the victims. Before the trial closes in mid-June, around 60 lawyers will cycle and testimony will be unfolded in the main court.
For many victims, their distance from their abusers was the latest blow in the process that often made them feel on the sidelines, said Marie Grimaud, the lawyer representing 37 of them.
“Everything is conspired to keep us invisible and keep us far, as if we were second-rate players in this trial,” reads Grimaud, released on behalf of our clients.
However, after learning from investigators about the alleged rape, Levark said he preferred to stay far from the doctor.
“I feel protected,” she said.
