Le Scouarnec trial: Faced with excuses that "ring false," victims try to "derail" the former surgeon

During the trial, one by one, the victims told the court about the sexual violence inflicted by the paedophile surgeon and tried to make him react, considering his excuses unsatisfactory.

For Nicolas Gourlet, sexually assaulted at the age of 13 by Joël Le Scouarnec, the goal is clear: during his deposition at the end of April, the 31-year-old hopes to "derail" the accused. "Your remorse leaves me indifferent, it even tends to annoy me. Humanize, personalize your regrets," he told him, before the Morbihan Criminal Court in Vannes.

A "perfectly recited" apology

All in vain: the doctor spoke the same words as in previous days; he barely deviated from his usual script to pronounce the name of his victim when the lawyer for the civil parties insisted.

And when Nicolas Gourlet's parents say they refuse Joël Le Scouarnec's "perfectly recited apologies," the latter nevertheless asks for "forgiveness" several times.

The same thing happened when Manon Lemoine, 35, told the court about her rape at the age of 11, reading a powerful text that upset her loved ones who came to support her. But "in his dock, Le Scouarnec showed no sign of regret," she recalls. On the contrary, "he held my gaze for a long time. If he were a normal person, he should have lowered his eyes, felt bad. It was as if it slipped off his mind... or as if he was defiant."

For her, Joël Le Scouarnec's "gestures, looks, posture" "rebut the sincerity of his words." "Does the court grasp these nuances? I'm not sure," she wonders.

Raped at the age of 10, Emmanuelle Martin, 36, also doesn't believe in the sincerity of Joël Le Scouarnec's apologies. "He said, 'I'm sorry, I'm going to make her suffer again' [...] and he read the text he had written about me twice, repeating the word 'rape' several times," she recalls. Then "he offered his usual apologies," she says. "But it sounded false."

Defense lawyer Maxime Tessier "firmly" refutes this "incriminating view," even though he says he "understands" the victims' dismay.

"Mr. Le Scouarnec is not trying to play the role of an actor. He is seeking peace and wishes to express his regrets to the victims."

The lawyer, who often plays the role of midwife or translator of his client's words, emphasizes that "Mr. Le Scouarnec has cooperated from the beginning [...] where it was so easy to add fuel to the fire and make this trial a horror." "Exhausted" by the trial, the 74-year-old doctor "has empathy and consideration for each victim and wants to say sorry to them," assures Mr. Tessier.

"Repetitive" apologies, admits Joël Le Scouarnec, but that's "because there are too many victims." He emphasizes that he "needs" to apologize, even when it's unbearable for his victims.

On the benches of the civil parties, a group of victims takes turns to support "those who pass." Sometimes, at the end of the hearing, they come together to dissect the words and attitude of the former surgeon, struggling to believe in "his arc of redemption," as Gabriel Trouvé, 34, explains:

"This is not the behavior of someone making amends. He is prioritizing his own needs without really considering how the victim might feel when this forgiveness is imposed."

"When we don't have the tools to understand what's happening, it can affect us even more […] especially when everyone uses the same excuses."

The young man also denounces the "gap" between the accused's "verbal and non-verbal" and pleads for him to be videotaped. "Because if we don't record him, we neutralize his responses."