Former surgeon sentenced to 20 years in prison as France's largest child sexual abuse trial ends

Joël Le Scouarnec, the former surgeon at the center of France’s largest-ever child sexual abuse case, was handed a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison Wednesday as his three-month-long trial reached its end.

Joël Le Scouarnec, the former surgeon at the center of France’s largest-ever child sexual abuse case, was handed a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison Wednesday as his three-month-long trial reached its end.

French courts convicted Le Scouarnec, 74, of sexually assaulting 299 victims over three decades, most of them girls and boys whose average age was 11. Many were assaulted while they were under the effects of anesthesia or recovering from surgery, prosecutors said.

Himself a father of three, Le Scouarnec confessed to committing “hideous acts” during the trial in the northwestern town of Vannes in the region of Brittany, where he admitted to all of his charges.

“I am not asking the court for leniency,” Le Scouarnec said in his closing statement, adding, “simply grant me the right to become a better person.”

His sentence will run concurrently with the 15 years he is serving after he was found guilty in 2020 of raping a young neighbor and three others when they were children.