THE lawyer for a French surgeon dubbed one of country’s worst sex offenders in history has died in an apparent suicide, a prosecutor has said.
Maxime Tessier, 34, had defended Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, who admitted at his trial to sexually assaulting or raping hundreds of patients between 1989 and 2014.
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Many of Le Scouarnec’s 298 victims were children.
He was sentenced by a French court to to 20 years in prison back in May.
Frederic Teillet, chief prosecutor in the western French city of Rennes, said that an investigation had been started into the lawyer’s death.
“Everything points to suicide,” Teillet said.
Catherine Glon, his associate, said he “had a very high regard for justice and was therefore very demanding towards himself.”
Tessier had been one of two lawyers defending Le Scouarnec, who is considered one of the most egregious sex offenders in French criminal history.
Le Scouarnec admitted at least 299 crimes against victims who were mostly under the age of 15, with the youngest just four.
Many of his victims were under the effects of anaesthesia or recovering from surgery, prosecutors said.
Thomas Delaby, a barrister representing one of his victims, told Le Scourarnec he is “the worst mass paedophile who ever lived” and “an atomic bomb of paedophilia”
He added: “Your victims will never forgive you.”
Speaking ahead of the verdict, Le Scourarnec said: “I’m not asking the court for leniency.
“Simply grant me the right to become a better person.”
Le Scouarnec was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his horrific crimes.
But Francesca Satta, a lawyer representing civil parties involved in the case, said: “Twenty years is a short time considering the number of victims involved.
“It’s time for the law to be changed so that more appropriate sentences can be handed down.”