Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of sexual abuse.
A French former surgeon who went on trial for sexually abusing nearly 300 of his patients, most of whom were under 15 years old, has described how he also victimized children who came to his home.
Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, has been on trial in the western city of Vannes since last week in one of the country's largest child sex abuse cases.
He is accused of assaulting or raping 299 patients, many while under anesthesia or waking up after surgery, at a dozen hospitals between 1989 and 2014.
Le Scouarnec also admitted last week to raping S., a friend of his children.
The woman, who was not named by AFP as she was a child at the time of the alleged crime, told a court in western France of the abuse she suffered in the early 1990s during visits to the Le Scouarnec household.
When she was six years old, the doctor took her into a room and "raped" her while her mother and the doctor's wife were talking in the living room, she said.
A few weeks later, he followed her into the bathroom and digitally raped her.
A few months after that, he tried to separate her again but she managed to escape back to her mother.
Le Scouarnec, who said he did not remember many of the acts for which he was charged, said he remembered the "bathroom episode."
"I'll take advantage of (one of my children) bringing friends (to the house) to abuse them," he said.
That day, "I was on the lookout for an opportunity and there, I saw little S. go to the toilet. So I went to the toilet to commit the acts as I described them."
That day, "I was on the lookout for an opportunity and there, I saw little S. go to the toilet. So I went to the toilet to commit the acts as I described them."
He continued to work until his retirement in 2017, after which he was accused of raping a six-year-old and police discovered diaries of abuse stored on his computers.
In court, Le Scouarnec explained how he hoped that speaking as little as possible during the abuse would discourage children from speaking out about it.
"I was just thinking about myself," he said. (AFP)
