Joël Le Scouarnec's judicial calendar is jostling.
In pre-trial detention in Saintes (Charente-Maritime) for more than three years in the context of a first case of rape and sexual assault on four minors, for which he must be tried at the end of November, here is the ex-digestive surgeon indicted since Wednesday in a second part, sprawling this one, which involves no less than 312 victims.
There again, justice accuses Joël Le Scouarnec of acts of rape and sexual assault, mainly on minors under 15 years old (265 among the 312 victims), and almost exclusively in the context of his former medical duties.
An aggravating circumstance.
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For the gendarmes of the Poitiers research section and their colleagues from the Morbihan group, this indictment signals the culmination of painstaking work to identify victims, sometimes under anesthesia or in the recovery room at the time of the facts, and progress in the twists and turns of limitation periods.
“The average age of the alleged victims of this procedure is 11 years
(Editor's note: at the time of the facts),
details Stéphane Kellenberger, the public prosecutor of Lorient, responsible for the preliminary investigation.
164 people are male and 148 are female […] 107 facts are likely to be classified as criminal and aggravated rape […] The oldest prosecution cases date back to January 1986, the most recent to January 2014 " .
The most intense period (1994-2007) corresponds to its passage through Morbihan and Finistère, where 252 victims were identified.
Beyond 2014, the respondent, used to compiling in writing his deeds and gestures, even the darkest, would not have left a damning trace.
Logbooks discovered at his home
During his police custody, Joël Le Scouarnec was confronted with his writings discovered at his home in May 2017. An authentic literary arsenal made up of both computer directories containing the identities of some of his victims and handwritten diaries scanned by pedophile prose.
Heard between Tuesday and Thursday by the gendarmes, the 69-year-old former doctor would have been "distant and detached, taking refuge not in a denial but in an alleged or timely absence of memories", in the words of the prosecutor of the Republic.
The investigators however tried to jostle him by evoking the most serious facts.
Those also for which they had only few material elements.
But Le Scouarnec, described by psychiatric experts as a cold being and endowed with an above average intelligence, did not blink.
He was returned to the Saintes remand center at the end of the day.
Contacted, his lawyer remained silent.
A bit like his client.
“For Joël, the first trial which awaits him in Saintes
(Editor's note: scheduled from November 30 to December 3)
is the most important, illuminates a source close to the accused.
Because it is about the family, two of his nieces are among the victims, and because the prison sentences do not accumulate.
So if it takes twenty years at the beginning of December, the second trial will have few consequences… ”
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For the victims, conversely, this indictment already represents a lot.
“It reassures me to see that the procedure progresses, blows Marie, presumed victim of Le Scouarnec while she was hospitalized in Vannes at the age of 10 years for an operation of appendicitis.
For me that means the start of the home stretch before a trial.
»More nuanced enthusiasm from his lawyer.
“It was time for the victims that things move and this indictment is very positive, notes Me Francesca Satta.
But the count of 312 victims is not final.
Other people could still make themselves known ”.
"His placement in police custody and the opening of a judicial investigation constitute the logical continuation of this file, in which Mr. Le Scouarnec will have to explain himself, adds Me Delphine Driguez, the lawyer of the two nieces victims in the first case.
My clients are preparing for trial for the facts that concern them, a new ordeal after the adjournment of the hearing last March due to the Covid.
They still intend to request a closed session, in order to preserve their privacy ”.
In addition, a preliminary investigation was opened Wednesday by the prosecutor of Lorient on the count of voluntary abstention from preventing crimes or offenses.
In line of sight, officials of medical authorities or former colleagues of Joël Le Scouarnec who would have done nothing to curb the dark drifts of this apparently "competent and efficient" surgeon.
