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)

The trial of Joël Le Scouarnec, who is charged with the rape and sexual assault of 299 people in France over decades, is set to begin. The alleged victims’ average age was 11.

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.

A former surgeon accused of abusing 299 young patients has accepted responsibility for the "vast majority" of the charges he faces as his trial begins, per reports.

A former surgeon is accused of raping or sexually assaulting 299 people, mostly children, over 25 years. It is considered to be France’s largest-ever pedophilia case.

A French former surgeon accused of abusing hundreds of patients, most of them children, has told a court that he admits to having "committed despicable acts" and "understands and shares the suffering" caused to his alleged victims.

A retired surgeon accused of raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients, some while they were under anaesthetic, told the opening of his trial in western France on Monday (Feb 24) that he had committed "despicable" acts.

A former surgeon is accused of raping or sexually abusing 299 victims, mainly his pediatric patients, and detailing over 30 years of the abuse in journals.

Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, will face hundreds of victims during a four-month trial in Vannes, Brittany. Most of them were children, who were his patients.

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