VANNES, France (Reuters) - The son of a retired French surgeon accused of raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients told a court on Tuesday that Joel Le Scouarnec was a good father - but that the crimes he is accused of are unforgivable.

The youngest son of Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, a former surgeon on trial for the alleged assault or rape of 299 patients, told the court Tuesday that he remembered growing

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.

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)

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.

The white-haired 74-year-old, who wore glasses and a black zip-up sweater over a grey shirt, was addressing the court in Vannes, north-west France, on the first day of the largest child abuse trial in French history.

Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, will reportedly face hundreds of his alleged victims during the four-month-long trial in Vannes, France, per reports

A former French surgeon went on trial Monday charged with raping or sexually assaulting almost 300 patients, most of them children at the time, in one of the country's largest

A retired French surgeon accused of sexually abusing nearly 300 patients, mostly children, has admitted to committing ‘heinous acts’. Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, appeared in the dock in the city of Vannes today,