“I am a pedophile.
“In the time of his freedom and his impunity, Joël Le Scouarnec used to type this sentence in very large characters on his computer on each of his birthdays, on December 3.
Like a profession of faith.
Chance of the calendar, Thursday, December 3 will correspond to his 70th birthday and especially the last day of his first trial.
Started on March 13 and interrupted after a day because of confinement, it resumes this Monday from zero before the Assize Court of Saintes (Charente-Maritime).
The former digestive surgeon, in pre-trial detention since May 2017, risks twenty years in prison for acts of rape and aggravated sexual assault he allegedly committed at the expense of four victims: two of his nieces (his sister's daughters) , one of his ex-patients from the hospital of Loches (Indre-et-Loire) and his ex-little neighbor of Jonzac (Charente-Maritime).
In the spring of 2017, the latter was playing in her garden when Dr. Le Scouarnec, buttocks in the air and visible sex, allegedly inflicted on her, through the fence, an act of digital penetration.
Facts denounced by the then 6-year-old child to his parents, confirmed by a gynecological expertise but still contested by the accused.
"Mr. Le Scouarnec awaits his trial with the desire to express what he has never been able to communicate to his family
(Editor's note: his three sons and his ex-wife are cited as witnesses)
until now, advance his lawyer Me Thibault Kurzawa.
He wants to free himself from a suffering that he carries within him.
On the other hand, he intends to defend himself and contest all the acts of rape with which he is accused.
"
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Denounced by his neighbors in Jonzac to the gendarmerie, this "discreet and competent" surgeon had then been the subject of a sprawling investigation, carried by the discovery at his home of an unparalleled pedophile arsenal: hundreds of thousands of pornographic photos of children and especially notebooks and directories containing the names of several hundred potential victims over the past four decades.
In order not to be exceeded by the legal deadlines for pre-trial detention, the courts then chose to split the Le Scouarnec case into two parts.
The first would be devoted to her neighbor and to the victims of the family and friendly circle (for three of them, the facts are prescribed).
The second to young patients passed into the hands of a predatory surgeon: he was indicted in October for 107 rapes and 212 aggravated sexual assaults committed out of a non-final total of 312 victims.
In camera debate
And as to make the connection between the two files, a former patient of the hospital of Loches, only 3 years old at the time of the facts, was included in the first instruction.
" Why she?
Nobody really knows, ”slips his lawyer, Mr. Vincent Doutreuwe who will ask, as in March, to hold the hearings behind closed doors.
He will be joined in this process by the association Innocence in danger, civil party in this case, and by the lawyer of the two nieces.
"Joël Le Scouarnec is an exhibitionist at heart," says Me Delphine Driguez.
Asking for a closed session is not playing into the hands of the accused, on the contrary.
It is also and above all the means of protecting my clients durably impacted by these acts endured while they were minors.
"
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An approach criticized by the Children's Foundation, also a civil party.
“This trial began in March, courtroom closed since a total closed session had been ordered, recalls his lawyer, Me Céline Astolfe.
Today, we are measuring the effects, all the words spoken during this hearing are now erased because of this confidentiality, incompatible with the sacrosanct principle of publicity of debates, which is the basis of our democratic justice.
"
An allusion in particular to the recognition by Joël Le Scouarnec, during this first trial, of the facts committed against his nieces.
To their mother - his sister - who came to speak at the bar of her guilt for having known about her daughters and not having said anything, Joël Le Scouarnec had this sentence: "You are not the culprit, it's me. .
"
Me Francesca Satta, the lawyer for the parents of Jonzac's little neighbor, at the origin of the case, defends the idea of a private session.
“Le Scouarnec is a pedophile who presents a very rare combination of perversions.
He is at the same time pedophile, zoophile, scatophile, fetishist and I forget some ... He is also very cold and very intelligent, able to adapt his answers.
In short, this trial promises to be very trying for my clients.
As for the hundred victims who seek explanations while awaiting the second trial, probably by 2022.
LANDMARKS
December 3, 1950.
Born in Paris.
Intern in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), where he became a digestive surgeon.
Works in many hospitals and clinics in Loches (Indre-et-Loire), Vannes (Morbihan), Lorient, Quimperlé (Finistère), Jonzac (Charente-Maritime), until 2017.
November 17, 2005.
Conviction in Vannes to four months in prison suspended for possession of child pornography images.
May 2017.
Arrest for the sexual assault of a little neighbor in Jonzac.
During a search, the investigators discovered the famous horror diaries, where scenes of abuse of hundreds of victims were recorded: 300,000 photographic files, 650 video files, 26 years of writings were peeled.
March 25, 2019.
Joël Le Scouarnec is sent back to the assizes for four first attacks, including that of his neighbor, which started everything.
On October 15, 2020, he was indicted for facts concerning 312 victims.
The investigation is still ongoing.
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