French surgeon may have abused 250 children
November 18, 2019
A French surgeon may have sexually abused up to 250 children, investigators announced on Monday.
The retired surgeon has been accused of rape and sexual assault of minors during his 30 years of practice in western France.
The former surgeon has been detained since May 2017, when he was accused of sexual abuse on four minors, including his neighbor's six-year-old daughter, between 1989 and 2017.
A secondary procedure then concluded up to 250 identified victims. Some 209 were interviewed, many of whom reported "specific memories," according to the prosecutor.
Read more: France passes new law on child rape, sexual harassment
Some 184 subsequently expressed a wish to file a complaint and 181 of those were minors at the time of the alleged offenses.
The surgeon allegedly recorded the names of young boys and girls in private notebooks, in which he described sex acts and fantasies. A search of the medic's home uncovered child pornography, dolls and wigs hidden in the floor.
jsi/aw (AFP, dpa)
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