Le Scuarnec Joel (Joel Le Scouarnec)

Le Scuarnec Joel (Joel Le Scouarnec)

Biography

2025: Sentence - 20 years in prison for raping 300 children over 30 years

At the end of May 2025, a court in the city of Vann in France found 74-year-old surgeon Joel Le Scuarnec guilty of rape and sexual abuse of children committed over three decades. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to the investigation, between 1985 and 2014, more than 340 minors became victims of his actions. The court officially recognized 299 people as victims, the rest were denied status due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

According to Le Monde, Le Scuarnec, who worked as a gastroenterologist in various hospitals in France, used his professional position to commit crimes. According to the case file, over the course of 25 years, he committed 111 rapes and 189 other acts of sexual violence, mainly against patients. Most episodes took place during rounds or in operating rooms - often in a state of anesthesia or after waking up.

According to investigators, his crimes went unnoticed due to a combination of factors - patient trust, the silence of colleagues and the lack of system checks. Journalist Hugo Lemonnier, who studied the doctor's case and wrote a book about him, claims that in 70% of cases the surgeon acted under the pretext of medical procedures. Several victims said in court they were not even believed by their parents when they tried to speak out about the abuse.

According to Le Monde, the first alarm signal was received by the French authorities in 2004 from the FBI - the US department recorded the purchase of child pornography from a card owned by Le Scouarnec. However, the case was limited to a suspended sentence and a fine, he did not lose his license. Even after admitting the fact of storing video files, he continued to work with children.

The trial lasted several months. Dozens of witnesses and victims were heard in the courtroom. Some of them described the consequences of experienced violence: depression, panic attacks, addictions, eating disorders and even suicide. According to them, many did not realize that they were victims until the investigation began.^[1]

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