REPORTAGE
This is the first part of one of the largest cases of pedophilia in France. The trial of retired surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec, accused of sexual assault on four minors, opened Friday morning at the Assize Court of Charente-Maritime, in Saintes. And, first twist, the brother and wife of the ex-surgeon did not appear at the assize court.
Supporting medical certificates, the two witnesses dodged the embarrassing questions. The Advocate General asked that an expert be appointed to ensure that the said certificates were not certificates of convenience. The absence of Joël Le Scouarnec's wife and brother has in any case provoked the anger of Jérôme Loiseau, the father of the little neighbor who accused the ex-surgeon of rape in 2017.
Family omerta
"What is the use if the witnesses are not there?" He wonders. "His wife, who is as guilty as him, is not there ... They are hiding," gets angry Jérôme Loiseau. The family omerta that surrounded Joël Le Scouarnec's acts of pedophilia are at the heart of the trial, which lasted for almost 30 years.
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The trial of Saintes relates to charges of rape and / or sexual abuse concerning the daughter of his neighbors from Jonzac, 6 years old in 2017, two nieces now in their thirties for acts committed at his home in Loches between 1989 and 1999, and a patient from the hospital in this town of Indre-et-Loire who was only four years old in 1993.
Before the investigators, Joël Le Scouarnec had confided his "attraction" to children and his "bulimia" of pedophile images - 300,000 found - which had earned him a slight conviction in 2005 for illegal consultations on the internet. Then he had confessed to "touching" on two of his nieces, civil parties in the trial, and on children around him and in hospitals, which had been partly prescribed.
349 potential victims
Who knew what? According to the survey, as early as 2006 his judicial past was known to his hospital in Quimperlé, and his family was aware of his addictions. The searches had revealed thousands of computer documents of the surgeon, including a diary started in 1990 detailing possible abuses and two listings titled "Vulvettes" and "Quéquettes" listing from 1984 to 2006 the names of nearly 250 minors, as many victims potential.
Justice then opened a second investigation which has identified 349 potential victims to date (of which 246 have filed complaints) during his 30 years of professional career in the Center and the West (Loches, Vannes, Lorient, Quimperlé) , where he officiated without being worried.