They were all there: the brother, the sister, the ex-wife, the sons and a cousin − a family procession like at weddings or funerals. But this time, they were taking the witness stand one after the other at a criminal court in Vannes, Brittany. Facing them was Dr. Joël Le Scouarnec, accused of the rapes and sexual assaults of 299 victims, who had an average age of 11 when they were abused. For those closest to him, the 74-year-old Le Scouarnec was the family's most notable figure; the surgeon, "the intellectual, someone intelligent," as his cousin Martine P. explained, in a voice that still conveyed respect. She was one of the few to visit him in prison. Her first sentence was a question: "Why did you become like this?" It's the same question the criminal court has been asking since the trial opened on February 24.

Like many others, the Le Scouarnecs have their own family story. Until now, it had been summed up in just a few sentences, only sparingly revealed to investigators; a story so pared-down as to be abstract: a French family living in a house in the Paris suburbs in the 1950s, with modest but hardworking parents, three children and the chance of social mobility. The eldest son became a doctor, something he had dreamed of doing even as a child, and himself started a family with three children. But, at the hearing, piece by piece, more information began to come out. And, very slowly, the door to the past began to unlock.

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