A former surgeon on trial in France who has admitted sexually abusing hundreds of patients, most under 15, said on Tuesday he considers himself "responsible" for the death of two of his victims.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, has been on trial since February accused of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults at a dozen hospitals in western France, in one of the country's largest child sex abuse cases.
Le Scouarnec admitted in March to sexually abusing all 299 victims, many while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations between 1989 and 2014.
Read moreFrench former surgeon admits to ‘vast majority’ of cases in historic child sexual abuse trial
Le Scouarnec told the court on Tuesday in a voice shaking with emotion that "I am responsible" for the deaths of Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021 in what his family says was suicide, and Alan Roux, who was found hanged at his home in 2020.
The former doctor is already in prison after being sentenced in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces.
The surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017, despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)