There are so many aspects to the crimes of Joel Le Scouarnec that it can feel bewildering. Not just the volume of his offences, but also the failings that allowed him to get away with such horrendous abuse for so long.
A monster who lived among us, and got away with it.
There are the questions about whether French society puts some people on such a lofty pedestal they become beyond reproach.
The way in which police treat victims, and the support those people get – or don’t get – when they come to terms with offences that happened to them, and often changed their lives.
But perhaps the most troubling side of this whole trial has been the relative indifference that has greeted it.
You might imagine Le Scouarnec’s crimes would lead to a searing national debate, a public inquiry and government soul-searching.
That, after all, is what happened following the trial of Dominique Pelicot who was found guilty of inviting dozens of men to rape or sexually abuse his wife Gisele over the course of a decade.
She, like many of Le Scouarnec’s victims, was unaware of what had happened to her – Gisele was drugged; Le Scouarnec preyed on children still recovering from anaesthetic.
In the Pelicot case, there was one victim and dozens of perpetrators. Le Scouarnec is the reverse – one man who attacked hundreds of people.
And yet the reception has been so different. Pelicot’s case was followed around the world, and its verdict echoed through French society. Le Scouarnec’s victims have complained about being ignored and forgotten.
Read more:
How did surgeon carry out abuse unchecked for decades?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
So what’s happened? Perhaps Le Scouarnec’s crimes are simply too horrendous – maybe we find his level of child abuse simply too dreadful to confront and instead turn away.
Possibly there is the argument that child abuse is a crime with which we are all too familiar, whereas the actions of Dominique Pelicot – drugging his own wife to allow strangers to rape her – were something horrendously new.
And then there is Gisele Pelicot – a totemic character who chose to reveal her identity and to own, and so mould, the story of what happened to her. For many, she is a heroic figure – a sign of hope amid the horror.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
In the case of Le Scouarnec, there is very little sign of redemption. Everything seems bleak.
Or is it simply that the French establishment does not want to accept the crimes of Le Scouarnec were enabled by terrible mistakes – that opportunities to stop him were repeatedly missed.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Whatever the reasons, far, far too many of Le Scouarnec’s victims feel as if they have been left behind and forgotten; that their nation is ignoring their suffering. And that, if nothing else, should give France reason to pause and to think.
