Court sentences former surgeon to 20 years for raping 299 children

A 74-year-old former surgeon, who raped hundreds of victims over a period spanning more than two decades, was sentenced on Friday to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison by a French court.

Joël Le Scouarnec was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting 299 children.

Le Scouarnec is already serving a 15-year prison sentence, for a conviction in 2020 for the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two nieces.

The new trial in Brittany, western France, began in February and laid bare a pattern of abuse between 1989 and 2014. Most of the victims were unconscious or sedated hospital patients at the time of the assaults. The average age was 11. Among the victims were 158 boys and 141 girls.

Judges followed the public prosecutor’s recommendations regarding the length of the sentence and the criminal court of Morbihan, in western France, ordered that Le Scouarnec should serve at least two-thirds of the punishment before he can be eligible for release, because he remains dangerous.

But the court did not impose a post-sentence preventive detention, prompting the anger of many victims.

Solène Podevin Favre, president of an advocacy group for child victims of incest and other sexual crimes, expressed shock at a verdict “we might have expected to be less lenient,” lamenting that post-sentence preventive detention was not imposed.

“It’s the maximum sentence, certainly,” she said. “But it’s the least we could have hoped for. Yet in six years, he could potentially be released. It’s staggering.”

SERVING 15-YEAR SENTENCE

Le Scouarnec, who has been jailed since 2017, is already serving a 15-year prison sentence, for a conviction in 2020 for the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two nieces. In French law, sentences run concurrently and Le Scouarnec should only serve the additional years after the first sentence is completed.

Post-sentence preventive detention is a measure rarely used in France that applies to the country’s most dangerous offenders. Had it been approved, Le Scouarnec could have been held indefinitely in a secure socio-medical facility, even after serving his time.

“The Court fully understood the requests from the civil parties that Mr. Le Scouarnec should never be released from prison. It would be demagogic and illusory to make them believe that this is possible,” the court said. “As things stand, the law does not allow it. And preventive detention, an exceptional measure, could in no way allow the Court to circumvent this reality.”

Le Scouarnec’s lawyer said his client won’t appeal the ruling.