Accused of raping and sexually assaulting almost 300 young patients, the former surgeon will be tried by the Morbihan criminal court in 2025
The chilling discovery of a predator’s notebooks

Some of the facts were only brought to the attention of the victims when they were summoned by the police or gendarmerie, following the discovery of Joël Le Scouarnec’s notebooks. These documents were found during the investigation into the abuse of his own niece and a young neighbor, as well as the molestation of another niece and a patient.

Joël Le Scouarnec was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for these first acts, but has decided to appeal the verdict.

A meticulous investigation to shed light on decades of abuse

In the course of the preliminary investigation and judicial inquiry, the 73-year-old former surgeon finally admitted “in their entirety” to the charges against him, detailing his “modus operandi”, his “motivations”, and the mechanisms put in place to escape all suspicion.

The Lorient public prosecutor, Stéphane Kellenberger, highlighted Le Scouarnec’s “strategies of dissimulation”, capable of “postponing certain acts, or even giving up”, for fear of being identified.

Extensive proceedings to bring justice to the victims

At the end of the investigation, Joël Le Scouarnec was referred to the criminal court for 111 counts of aggravated rape and 289 counts of aggravated sexual assault. During this lengthy procedure, the investigators focused on identifying each of the victims,” emphasized the public prosecutor. The investigations sometimes brought some relief to victims who were not involved in the initial proceedings, but who had been marked by years of silence and suffering.