"Nobody will attack a high-ranking surgeon," said Francesca Satta, a lawyer representing some of Le Scouarnec's alleged victims, adding that the surgeon was "overlooked" because of his position.
In 2006, a psychiatrist working at the same hospital as Le Scouarnec wrote to the management, expressing concern that the surgeon was practising on children despite having a conviction for sharing images on paedophile websites.
In 2004, as part of a global investigation into paedophile networks, the FBI found evidence Le Scouarnec had shared and downloaded pornographic images of children via a website based in the United States.
It is a long and horrific list, agonisingly detailed by the prosecution, but it boils down to one fact - Le Scouarnec is alleged to be the most prolific child abuser ever apprehended in France and, perhaps, in all of Europe.
For many years, Marie, like many of the alleged victims, didn't know she'd been assaulted, until a visit from the police shed light on a feeling that something had happened to her body which she couldn't explain.
