French surgeon accused of 299 rapes to go on trial in 2025 Society

Surgeon Joël Le Charneck was as meticulous in performing operations as he was in writing down one by one the rapes of minors in his notebook, which he committed in the same room where he worked. Thanks to all the documents that he himself stored, it was discovered that between 1989 and 2014 he abused 299 patients with impunity in the different hospitals where he worked. The average age of the victims, 158 men and 141 women, was 11 years old, according to a report this week by the prosecutor in charge of the case. Only 14 were over the age of 20, and 256 were under the age of 15 at the time. It is the largest predator of minors known in France and a case – whose verdict will begin in 2025 – that has shocked a society stunned by Gisele’s trial. The victim of a hundred men, whom her husband contacted over the Internet and offered to drug her and rape her.

The accused faces a prison sentence of 20 years, which will be added to the 15-year sentence for which he was already accused for raping the daughter of some neighbors in 2020. During the same investigation, when agents entered the surgeon’s home, they found some notebooks in which he was jotting down the identities of his victims and the abuse he inflicted on each of them. Thanks to “pictures and notes on the computer” and other handwritten accounts seized from Joël Le Scournec’s home, investigators were able to identify the victims.

For more than 25 years, in his intimate diaries, the doctor chronologically listed and named his victims, describing in his writings the sexual assaults and rapes he committed or attempted to commit in the various hospitals where he practiced. Was. “These accounts chronicle numerous acts of sexual touching and penetration carried out almost daily, during pre- or post-operative consultations or during interventions in the operating room, sometimes presented as medical acts or clinical examinations are done, especially when they were done in the presence of third parties: whether private doctors or parents of the patient,” the judge said in his order, as published Le Monde.

The prosecutor’s final brief highlighted the doctor’s sense of “omnipotence” specializing in digestive and intestinal surgery, indicated by expert reports, as well as his “persistent, calculated manner, flirting with danger”. Particularly highlights the need for “during”. Commission of certain acts in the hospital.”

This case is reminiscent of Gisele Pellicot in some aspects. First of all, because of its extraordinary magnitude and the attacker’s aforementioned sense of impunity. But also because of the situation the victims were in and how they knew what had happened. Many victims, while unconscious, in the process of waking up or becoming unconscious, were not aware of acts committed without their knowledge until they were contacted by investigators. “Some (victims) remembered the events described; However, this was not the case in most cases. They often mentioned remembering such gestures, although they interpreted them as therapeutic acts,” the investigating judge explained in his writings.

Many victims discovered that they had been raped when they were called to the police station to testify, as was the case with Gisele Pellicot following crimes committed by her husband. Likewise, the trial of this surgeon reopens the debate about how these types of attacks can go unnoticed, especially those occurring in medical facilities or with victims monitored by some type of doctor after the attacks. When done.

In separate interrogations of Le Chornec during the four-year investigation, the accused identified a good part of the facts, as well as his working methods and strategies to avoid surprises. As reported by the investigating judge, the surgeon admitted that “for 30 years of his life, he was completely obsessed with pedophilia”, and claimed to be trying to collect as many victims as possible. He always referred to “hidden” or “fleeting” gestures made while avoiding the attention of third parties, for example, taking advantage of the fact that the nurse had looked away or that the parent had left the room. They went. He also indicated that he often operated under false medical pretenses so as not to alert the young patient.

The accused, whom Kellenberger described as a man with an “abnormal personality”, had already been reported for suspicion in 2006, but various hospital services took no action, leading the prosecutor to file a complaint for possible concealment. Started parallel criminal investigation. Of crimes.