French paedophile surgeon says he is 'responsible' for deaths of two victims
This court sketch created on Mar 6, 2025, shows retired French surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec answering a question of French plaintiffs' lawyer Francesca Satta during his trial on charges of assaulting or raping 299 patients, at the Criminal Court in Vannes. (Image: AFP/Benoit Peyrucq)
VANNES, France: A former surgeon on trial in France who has admitted sexually abusing hundreds of patients, most under 15, said on Tuesday (May 20) that he considers himself "responsible" for the death of two of his victims.
Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, has been on trial since February. He is 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.
Le Scouarnec admitted in March to sexually abusing all 299 victims, many while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations between 1989 and 2014.
Le Scouarnec told the court on Tuesday in a voice shaking with emotion that "I am responsible" for the deaths of Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021 in what his family says was suicide, and Alan Roux, who was found hanged at his home in 2020.
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.
The surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017, despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children.
