A man in France is on trial after being accused of drugging his wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her over the course of almost a decade, according to reports.
On Monday, Sept. 2, Dominique Pélicot’s case headed to court in Avignon, after he was accused of inviting multiple men — including firefighters, masons, gardeners, prison guards, soldiers and journalists, now between the ages of 26 and 73 years old — to have sex with his wife Gisèle, 72, while she was unconscious, per French paper Le Parisien.
According to the New York Times, police spent the two years after learning about the abuse in 2020 tracking the suspects down.
Le Parisien stated 51 men are heading to trial, but U.K. newspaper The Times added that a total of 92 rapes had been committed by 83 men through the years.
Gisèle Pélicot sits with her daughter Caroline Darian and her son at the courthouse.
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty
Per the NYT citing police, Dominique, 71, has admitted to putting ground sleeping pills into Gisèle’s food and drink, before inviting the men to rape her after looking for them online. The outlet citing police stated Dominique would sometimes film the assaults, reporting that police found more than 20,000 videos and photographs amid their investigation, with the timeline dating back to 2011.
The couple, who are getting a divorce, had been together for 40 years and share three children and two grandchildren, per U.K. newspaperThe Times.
Prior to realizing the abuse had taken place, Gisèle had been suffering from memory loss and physical symptoms, but she only became aware of the assaults once police told her, the outlet reported. Officers had raided the family’s Mazan home amid accusations that Dominique had been filming up three women’s skirts in a supermarket, per the U.K. publication.
According to the outlet, Gisèle wanted the trial to be public. One of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, said: “She wants to raise awareness, as widely as possible, of what happened to her so that events like these never happen again.”
Per The Times, Dominique’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said Mr. Péricot was not contesting the charges and had “always declared himself guilty.”
The publication stated the lawyer insisted the suspect wanted his co-defendants to “recognize their involvement in his crimes rather than blaming him.”
Demonstrators hold smoke bombs during a protest outside the courthouse.
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty
According to the NYT, some have denied the rape charges, stating they had Mr. Péricot’s permission, while other men claimed they thought the victim had “agreed to be drugged.”
The outlet stated the victim had no memory of the rapes, but did recognize one of the men as being a neighbor in town.
While previously speaking to police, Gisèle said her husband, whom she’d been dating since they were 18, was “caring and considerate,” the New York Times reported.
Their daughter, Caroline Darian, published a book about the case against her father in 2022, titled And I Stopped Calling You Papa, translated from French.
“I think of us as happy,” Darian wrote, according to the outlet, adding, “I thought my parents were.”
Per the NYT, Mr. Pélicot is also being investigated in connection to the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman dating back to 1991, as well as the attempted rape of a 19-year-old in 1999.
According to Florence Rault, the lawyer representing the victims in both cases, the suspect has admitted to attempted rape, but denies any involvement in the murder.
