French pedophile surgeon says 'responsible' for deaths of two victims

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of sexual abuse.

A former surgeon on trial in France who has admitted sexually abusing hundreds of patients, most under 15 and unconscious at the time, said he considered himself "responsible" for the death of two of his victims.

Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, has been on trial since February accused of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults at a dozen hospitals in western France, in one of the country's largest child sex abuse cases.

The former surgeon told the court on Tuesday, May 20, in a voice shaking with emotion, "I am responsible" for the deaths of Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021 in what his family says was suicide, and another man who was found dead in 2020.

"I still picture that father with his little girl on his lap, who is no longer here because of me," he said. 

Le Scouarnec, who said he had "come to terms" with his actions, admitted in March to sexually abusing all 299 victims between 1989 and 2014, many while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations.

The former doctor is already in prison after being sentenced in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces.

"He is utterly guilty," said one of his lawyers, Maxime Tessier.

The verdict is expected on May 28. Le Scouarnec faces an additional 20-year sentence.

The trial has raised serious concerns about how the former surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017, despite a 2005 conviction for owning sexually abusive images of children.

'With hindsight'

Medical officials questioned on Monday, May 19, tried to deflect blame for allowing the defendant to continue practicing medicine at their institutions—a failure with "enormous consequences," said public prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger.

Some refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing, while others eventually admitted they could have done things differently.

Numerous letters show that medical authorities, including the Order of Physicians of the Finistere department of Brittany, were aware of the conviction for owning the images.

But the order's former head attempted to avoid testifying altogether on medical grounds before the presiding judge instructed him to appear.

When Francois Simon, 81, appeared in court, he did not concede to any wrongdoing, despite a barrage of questions.

In one instance, Le Scouarnec told the then-director of the Jonzac hospital in western France about his 2005 conviction but she hired him nonetheless in 2008.

"We were in need of surgeons," Michele Cals said. 

"I don't see why we wouldn't have taken him," Cals added, stressing that the court had not prohibited the surgeon from being around minors.

If he had not been hired in Jonzac, "he would have been hired somewhere else," Cals added, before admitting she "didn't dig deep enough."

When asked if he could have done things differently, the head of the Order of Physicians of the Charente-Maritime department where Le Scouarnec finished his career said "perceptions were different" at the time.

"With hindsight, it's obvious we could have," he added.

Joel Belloc, who testified via videolink, added Le Scouarnec "would have been rejected" in 2025.

However the case is not receiving the attention it deserves in France, according to a group representing 50 of the former practitioner's victims.

"We are appalled to see that this 'trial of the century' is not making headlines with the government and, more broadly, with the general public."