The victim of prolific French pedophile Joel Le Skouneck expressed disappointment that the former surgeon’s 20-year prison sentence did not include preventive detention.
The 74-year-old was convicted Tuesday of sexually abusing hundreds of people.
During the trial, he confessed to committing 111 rape crimes and 188 sexual assaults and was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
The prosecutor who called Le Scouarnec the “white coated demon” had asked the court to take very rare provisions to hold him in a centre of treatment and supervision after release, known as preventive detention.
However, the judge rejected the request, claiming that Le Skullneck’s age and his “desire for correction” were taken into consideration.
Le Scouarnec must provide two-thirds of his sentence before qualifying for parole.
However, he may be eligible for parole by 2032, as he has already served for seven years for his previous convictions for rape and sexual assault of four children.
His lawyer, Maxime Tessier, pointed out that Le Scouarnec is “inaccurate” as it could be released.
But his victims — many who attended a three-month trial in Vanès, northern France — lament the sentence.
“In the case of robbers, you risk 30 years. But are the punishments for hundreds of child rapes lightweight?” one victim told Le Monde.
“The verdict may have expected ‘not tolerant’ and hoped to include post-sentence preventive detention,” said Soren Podevin Fabre, president of the child advocacy group.
“It’s certainly the biggest sentence,” she said. “But that’s the least we wanted. But in six years, he could potentially be released. That’s phenomenal.”
Marie Grimaud, one of the lawyers representing the victim, told reporters that she understands the verdict “intellectually” but could not “symbolically.”
Another lawyer, Francesca Satta, said that 20 years felt too short, given the number of casualties in the case.
“It’s time for the law to change, and we can get better writing,” she insisted.
However, in her ruling read out to the court, Aude Bresi said that the court “hears in full the demands of the plaintiff that Le Skaurneck should not be released from prison, but it would be devilish and fanciful to believe that it is possible.”
“In fact, the rule of law doesn’t allow that to happen,” she added.
Amelie Levark, one of Le Skullneck’s victims, said she hoped the verdict would “shock” her and would be subject to preventive detention. “How many victims will it take? Thousands?”
She argued that French laws have changed and that stricter texts should be allowed to take into account the continuous nature of crime.
A similar complaint was filed in the aftermath of the Pericot trial last December. Dominique Pericot was found guilty of drugging and raping his wife, Guisele, and recruited dozens of men to abuse her for a decade.
Pericot was also sentenced to 20 years (the maximum sentence for rape under French law) with a duty to serve at least two-thirds of his prison.
However, his case should be reconsidered at the end of his sentence before investigating the issue of preventive detention.
In France, sentences are not provided in succession. Prosecutor Stephen Kellenberger pointed out last week that Le Skullneck was on trial in the United States — people sentenced him one after another — that he may have faced more than four,000 years of sentences.
However, Cecil de Oliveira, one of the victim’s lawyers, praised the verdict.
She agreed to the court’s decision not to impose preventive detention on former surgeons, adding that “there is a totally exceptional punishment.”
After the verdict was read, the victims, journalists and lawyers mingled outside Vaness’s courtroom. With anger at the verdict, the Civil Party and many of its relatives brought their frustration to the media.
“What I’m looking for is that this guy can’t offend him again,” the victim’s mother told the French outlet.
“If this kind of action needs to involve life imprisonment, that’s it.”
