A retired surgeon accused of raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients, some while they were under anesthetic, told the opening of his trial in western France on Monday that he had committed "despicable" acts.

VANNES, France — A former surgeon is set to stand trial in France on Monday for the alleged rape or sexual abuse of 299 victims, most of them children who were his patients, in what investigators and his own notebooks describe as a pattern of violence spanning over three decades.

A former surgeon accused of raping or sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients, some while they were under anaesthetic, went on trial on Monday in France's largest ever child sexual abuse case.

The numbers involved in France’s largest child abuse trial are staggering: 299 alleged victims, sexually abused in nine hospitals over 25 years - all by one doctor, prosecutors say.

Starting Monday, a French doctor will be tried on charges of raping and sexually assaulting 299 people over 25 years — almost all his patients, almost all children at the time of the suspected abuse.

Amélie Lévêque remembers the moment when she finally understood the unexplained bouts of depression and other disorders that had tormented her for more than two decades.

France is preparing for its largest-ever child abuse trial as a former surgeon stands accused of sexually assaulting 299 children.

France is set to hold its largest-ever trial concerning child sexual abuse, where Joël Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon, now 74, is currently on trial for the sexual abuse of nearly 300 patients, many of whom were children.