VANNES, France (AP) — A former surgeon went on 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 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.

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.

A retired surgeon admitted in court that he committed “hideous” acts, as France’s largest ever child sexual abuse case got underway on Monday.

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.

The trial for former surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec, who is charged with raping or sexually assaulting 299 victims over three decades, is set to be the largest trial of its kind in French history. NBC News’ Molly Hunter reports on how the country and activists groups are reacting to the allegations against the 74-year-old.