French Prosecutor Seeks 20-Year Sentence for Surgeon in Massive Child Abuse Case
On May 23, 2025, a French prosecutor requested the maximum 20-year prison sentence for Joël Le Scouarnec, a 74-year-old former surgeon who admitted to sexually abusing nearly 300 patients, most of them children under 15, over a span of 25 years. The abuse occurred between 1989 and 2014 across multiple hospitals in western France. Le Scouarnec has been on trial since February, facing charges of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults involving 299 victims.
Prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger emphasized the “high risk of re-offending” and recommended that Le Scouarnec serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He also suggested that upon release, Le Scouarnec should be placed in a specialized treatment and supervision center due to his “serious personality disorders.”
Le Scouarnec is already serving a 15-year sentence from a 2020 conviction for sexually abusing four minors. The current trial is considered one of France’s largest child sexual abuse cases. The verdict is expected on Wednesday.
The case has drawn significant attention to systemic failures within French medical and judicial institutions, as Le Scouarnec continued practicing medicine despite a 2005 conviction for possessing child pornography. Prosecutor Kellenberger questioned why Le Scouarnec was allowed to continue his medical career, suggesting that institutional oversights contributed to the prolonged abuse.
Further investigations are ongoing, and additional trials may be necessary to address the cases of other victims not included in the current proceedings.