Lorient Public Prosecutor Laureline Peyreffite, here on December 20, 2019. - C. Allain / 20 Minutes

  • Joël Le Scouarnec, surgeon, is suspected of having raped and sexually assaulted hundreds of children in the past decades.
  • This Friday, he must appear at the assizes of Charente-Maritime for a first case of rape and sexual assault of four young girls.
  • The parents of a young civil party girl are fighting to keep the trial from being held behind closed doors.

Between the Starbucks terrace and the suitcase seller, two journalists chat along Boulevard de Sébastopol in Paris. "What room is it going to be in?" Asks the first. "The one from the last time? She was good… ”imagines the second. "Or the one where we had the snack?" Do you remember… "

Five floors higher, at number 11, lawyer Francesca Satta finally chooses the room in her cabinet that faces the kitchenette to receive the press, this Friday, February 14. It is not very large. So, we fold the flipchart in a corner. We sit a few reporters on the ground. Others are asked to hug. "And we are waiting for France 3!" “, Also orders the lawyer, visibly experienced in the exercise.

By her side, Laura T. and Jérôme L. can no longer wait. So, after a few minutes, they drop most of their message to the thirty journalists: “We are here for our daughter who was raped by a madman (…) If she hadn't spoken… This guys would always be out to make victims! "

🔴 [INFO ALERT] https://t.co/mnePz2eVU2

- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) December 20, 2019

Surgeon suspected of causing at least 349 victims

"This guy" is called Joël Le Scouarnec. He is 69 years old. At the beginning, the media nicknamed him "the surgeon of Jonzac" after the city of Charente-Maritime where he practiced. Where he is suspected of raping young patients for years. And then the investigation established that he had also worked in Loches (Indre-et-Loire), Vannes (Morbihan), Quimperlé (Finistère)… And that the number of his victims could be much greater than what we imagined. At the end of December, Laureline Peyrefitte, the Lorient (Morbihan) prosecutor where the case is being examined, estimated it at 349. While specifying that the investigations were continuing to know if there is not more, in reality.

But the courts have not planned to wait to start demanding accountability from the practitioner. This Friday, he will appear before the Assize Court of Charente-Maritime, in Saintes, for rape or sexual assault committed on four young girls: a patient treated for pancreatitis when he operated at Loches in the 1990s, two of his own nieces, and the child of Laura T. and Jérôme L., of which Joël Le Scouarnec was the neighbor.

The surgeon's nieces want to demand the camera

"We are not here for a family meal," warns the father of the little girl immediately to the press, while rolling up the sleeves of his black sweater. The fact is that, almost three years after the facts, he did not understand all the driving forces behind this affair. An example ? "When you watch Investigation of Action [a program on W9], the police break down the door [of a suspect as soon as he is reported]! And Le Scouarnec, it took three days for them to come and get it. The father does not understand, either, how the surgeon was able to make so many victims without being worried. And, above all, why his trial could be held behind closed doors.

“Lots of people need to know what happened. Our daughter at 9 years old. And she is a heroine! " Certainly. But nothing says that she will be happy, in a few years, to see the details of her sexual assault engraved in the archives of the press and especially of the Internet for eternity…

It should never happen. A lawyer for the surgeon's two nieces, Delphine Driguez confirms that her clients are going to request the camera during the trial. "And there is a 99 in 100 chance that it will be granted," she says. My clients are terrified of talking about the repeated rapes they suffered between 2 and 9 years old. They will agree to do it behind closed doors before magistrates and jurors only. But not in front of the press and the public. "

"And then there are the photo montages ..."

This is proof that the Le Scouarnec case divides. Attraction for the greatest pedophile that France has ever known, if the facts were true. Repulsion for what he is accused of having committed. If the investigators have identified 349 potential victims, it is because the man has detailed the least of his actions in unsustainable computer files. Day after day. "Not to mention the photo montages," continues Delphine Driguez. No one needs to see this. Nobody needs to be talked about… ”

Jérôme L. and Laura T. do not think badly by asking for the publicity of the debates. But well to the omerta which reigned in the Le Scouarnec family for years and which, according to them, allowed the surgeon to reoffend. "We must break it!" For us, it's similar to the Dutroux affair. We have nothing to hide. I am waiting for justice to wake up… ”She is ready for any eventuality. It organized to welcome dozens of journalists this Friday at the Assize Court. Ask them to leave the courtroom after a few minutes if the camera is ordered.

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Surgeon accused of pedophilia: Investigators have identified 349 potential victims

  • Justice
  • Pedophilia
  • Surgery
  • Joël Le Scouarnec
  • Child pornography
  • Lorient
  • Poitou-Charentes