The women took the stand in the trial of Joel Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon accused of raping or sexually assaulting hundreds of children who were his patients.

Months after the Gisèle Pelicot case rocked France, Le Scouarnec is accused of raping or abusing 299 victims, most of them young children at the time. View on euronews

The numbers involved in France’s largest child abuse trial are staggering: 299 alleged victims, sexually abused in 10 hospitals and clinics over 25 years – all by one doctor, prosecutors say.

The son of a retired French surgeon accused of raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients told a court on Tuesday that Joel Le Scouarnec was a good father - but that the crimes he is accused of are unforgivable.

This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Joel Le Scouarnec, now 74, sitting in courtroom and accused of raping or abusing 299 people, mostly child patients, at the Vannes courthouse, western France, on the opening day of his trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Valentin Pasquier via AP)

Joel Le Scouarnec has gone on trial accused of raping or sexually abusing 299 victims — mostly children — under his care.

Two sons of Joel Le Scouarnec, a French former surgeon on trial for the alleged assault or rape of 299 patients, told a court Tuesday of the devastation their father's

Defendant Joël Le Scouarnec's chillingly detailed notebooks —which he used to document sexual violence that spanned decades — are central to the trial.