Joel Le Scouarnec, the Frenchman, a former surgeon who has admitted to sexually abused hundreds of patients, mainly children, between 1989 and 2014, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Le Scouarnec was dressed in black as he was standing in court and listened to the judge say the verdict. He acknowledged the accusations during a meeting in March, as reported by the BBC.

The former surgeon, 74, is already in prison after being sentenced to 15 years in December 2020 for rape and sexual assault of four children, including two of his nieces.

The former doctor has been tried in Brittany since the end of February. During this time, dozens of his victims have testified, telling the court how the abuse they suffered as children influenced their lives.

In March, during a trial in camera, Le Scouarnec acknowledged that he sexually abused all 299 victims while under anesthesia or awakened after surgery.

He was holding calendars describing the attacks in graphic details, which allowed the police to identify his victims – many of which did not remember the abuse they suffered while under the care of Le Scouarnec.

“I can no longer see myself in the same way because I am a pedophile and rapist of children”Le Scouarnec said in his latest statements in court last week.

“Much has been said. I don’t necessarily remember everything now … However, what I’ve seen [στο δικαστήριο] It’s the pain for which I am responsible, “he said.

He added that he neither wanted nor wait for him to be given some mercy.

Earlier this month he also said that he was “responsible” for the deaths of two victims whose relatives say they committed suicide, after the trauma of the sexual attack by Le Scouarnec when they were children.

The grandparents of one of them, Mathias Vinet, who died four years ago, spoke to the BBC about what their grandson experienced when police revealed to him that his name was in one of the calendars.

The trial had triggered reactions because Le Scouarnec continued to cure children despite his 2005 conviction of downloading pedophilia images.

The Victims of Joel Le Scouarnec Collective argues that the trial has failed to draw the attention of politicians and society in general.

“No one has taken his lesson from it, neither from the medical world, nor the politicians,” the team said in a statement. Many victims protest in front of the courthouse before the verdict was issued on Wednesday afternoon.

Catherine, the mother of a victim, said on the verdict on the day that it was the first time she saw so many journalists covering the trial and added that she felt the victims had been forgotten.

Le Scouarnec, who was present in court every day in the 14 -week trial, repeatedly apologized for his actions.

Many of his victims remained indifferent to his behavior. “His words are always the same, in the same tone, I see no sincerity in them.”said Louis-Marie, 35 years old, at the BBC. “All I hope is no harm to society … to stay closed.”