Ex-wife of French surgeon who ‘sexually abused 299 victims’ accused of covering up his crimes - Joel Le Scouarnec is accused of attacking 158 males and 141 females, mostly children

Former surgeon, Joël Le Scouarnec, has drawn global attention after he admitted to 'committing hideous acts' during the hearing of which has been dubbed as France's largest child sexual abuse case on Monday.

This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Joel Le Scouarnec, now 74, sitting in courtroom and accused of raping or abusing 299 people, mostly child patients, at the Vannes courthouse, western France, on the opening day of his trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Valentin Pasquier via AP)

The trial of Joël Le Scouarnec, who is charged with the rape and sexual assault of 299 people in France over decades, is set to begin. The alleged victims’ average age was 11.

A former surgeon accused of abusing 299 young patients has accepted responsibility for the "vast majority" of the charges he faces as his trial begins, per reports.

Defendant Joël Le Scouarnec's chillingly detailed notebooks —which he used to document sexual violence that spanned decades — are central to the trial.

The white-haired 74-year-old, who wore glasses and a black zip-up sweater over a grey shirt, was addressing the court in Vannes, north-west France, on the first day of the largest child abuse trial in French history.

A former French surgeon went on trial Monday charged with raping or sexually assaulting almost 300 patients, most of them children at the time, in one of the country's largest

A retired French surgeon accused of sexually abusing nearly 300 patients, mostly children, has admitted to committing ‘heinous acts’. Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, appeared in the dock in the city of Vannes today,