A retired surgeon suspected of raping or sexually abusing as many as 349 children over nearly three decades went on trial behind closed doors in France on Friday in what could be the country’s biggest-ever pedophilia scandal, reports Reuters.
The trial in the western town of Saintes is the first of hundreds of legal complaints against defendant Joël Le Scouarnec to come to court. It is due to run until March 17th.
Le Scouarnec, 69, is charged in this opening case with raping and sexually abusing four children between 1989 and 2017. The alleged victims included two of his nieces, a patient and his neighbour’s then six-year-old daughter.
Because the victims were minors at the time, the Saintes court ruled on Friday that proceedings would be closed to the public, radio France-info said.
Le Scouarnec was arrested in 2017 when the young girl living next door told her mother that he had exposed himself and molested her.