Joel Le Scouarnec, the former surgeon who has admitted sexually abusing hundreds of patients, mostly children, between 1989 and 2014 has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Le Scouarnec was dressed in black as he stood emotionless in court listening to the judge Aude Burési deliver the verdict. He had admitted the charges in March.
Judge Burési said the court had taken into account the fact that the former surgeon had especially sought out unwell, vulnerable and sedated victims.
Le Scouarnec, 74, has been dubbed France’s most prolific paedophile. He is already in jail after being sentenced in 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces.
During the harrowing three-month trial in Vannes, Brittany, he stood accused of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults between 1989 and 2014 at a dozen hospitals. Many of the children he assaulted were under anaesthetic or waking up after operations. Some were assaulted in their hospital beds. The average age of the victims was 11.
