French paedophile surgeon says he is 'responsible' for deaths of two victims

This story contains distressing details from the start

Joel Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon on trial in France who has admitted to sexually abusing hundreds of patients, mostly under age, said he considers himself "responsible" for the death of two of his victims.

Over the last few weeks, the court was shown the photos of two people whose relatives say died by suicide, following the trauma of being sexually assaulted by Le Scouarnec when they were children.

One is not being named; the other is Mathias Vinet, who died at in 2021 after struggling with addiction. His grandparents told the BBC they blame Le Scouarnec for his death.

"I keep the memory of those two photos, [shown] right towards the end, during the last examinations," the former surgeon said. "They died, and I am responsible."

Le Scouarnec, 74, was being questioned in court in Vannes, Brittany, during the penultimate week of a long and gruelling trial which began in late February.

In March, during a session held behind closed doors, Le Scouarnec - once a respected small-town surgeon - admitted to sexually abusing all 299 victims, many while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations, between 1989 and 2014. More than 250 of them were under the age of 15.

His lawyer Maxime Tessier said he had asked Le Scouarnec if he admitted that the numerous people mentioned in his diaries were "all potential victims of his acts and he said: 'Yes'".

At the start of the trial Le Scouarnec also told the court he "committed despicable acts" and "understood and shared the suffering" caused to many of his patients.

Police were able to identify hundreds of victims thanks to meticulously-compiled diaries in which Le Scouarnec logged assaults he carried out in graphic detail.

Many had no recollection of the abuse they are said to have sustained, and had to be told by police that their names appeared in Le Scouarnec's diaries.

For hundreds of hours over the course of the trial, Le Scouarnec has come face to face with dozens of his victims and their relatives.

Many of them became emotional as they described how the abuse they endured shaped their lives; several said they have suffered from eating disorders, anxiety, depression or addiction.

"You got into my head, it's destroyed me, I became a whole other person I don't recognise anymore," Le Monde newspaper reported one victim as saying.

One of the few victims who had memories of the abuse sustained at the hands of Le Scouarnec said that she was relieved when police contacted her to say her name appeared in the former surgeon's diaries.

"I have been waiting for your call for 30 years," she said, according to Le Monde.

The newspaper also told the story of another victim who had no recollection of the abuse but said she nonetheless was "convinced" she had been raped. "I wanted to die without even knowing why. He stole my youth," she told the court.

Throughout the trial Le Scouarnec has apologised to his victims, often acknowledging that his acts had been "revolting".

Romane Codou, a lawyer representing several victims, told French media that his admission of guilt had "appeased" the victims and "allowed them to shut the door on an awful debate in which we were at the mercy of Joel Le Scouarnec".

A section of the trial was devoted to the cross-examination of medical professionals who worked in the same establishments as Le Scouarnec.

Victims' lawyers and child protection advocacy groups have said "institutional failings" allowed the surgeon to continue working with children even after an FBI alert - issued in the early 2000s - warned French authorities that Le Scouarnec had been accessing child abuse websites.

The National Order of Doctors (Cnom), which has also filed a lawsuit against Le Scouranec, said in March that it "expressed its deep regrets" as he should have been "prevented from practicing".

"This situation has highlighted poor communication between the different entities of the Order of Doctors, and we deeply regret this," they said in a statement.

Despite being the largest child abuse trial in French history, many victims have felt the proceedings have garnered relatively little attention in France.

The Victims of Joel Le Scouarnec Collective group said it was "stunned" to see how the trial had failed to capture the attention of politicians and society at large.

"No lesson has been drawn from this, neither from the medical world nor from politicians," the group said in a statement.

Le Scouarnec is already in prison after being sentenced in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces. Now, he faces an additional 20-year sentence.

A verdict is expected on 28 May.