BRAVE grandmother Gisele Pelicot barely flinched yesterday as she stood up to confront the 51 men who allegedly raped her at her husband’s request.
Giving evidence for the first time in a trial that shocked the world, the 71-year-old mother-of-three told how she was left “a pile of rubble” by the ultimate betrayal by a man she thought was a “well-meaning and nice guy” during their 51-year marriage.
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Brave grandmother Gisele Pelicot yesterday in front of the courtCredit: AFP
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Dominique Pelicot, 71, invited strangers to have sex with his wife while she lay drugged Credit: DR
For almost a decade, retired electrician Dominique Pelicot, 71, invited strangers to have sex with his wife as she lay drugged and helpless in their family home in a small town in southern France.
Heavy sedatives, crumbled into her dinner, left Gisele with such severe memory loss that she feared she had Alzheimer’s disease.
Only after the police discovered her husband’s secret crimes did she know anything about the men who attacked her night after night.
Yesterday, dressed in red, Gisele stared at the motionless Pelicot and said: “I was sacrificed by my husband for these obscenities.
READ MORE ABOUT GISELE PELICOT
‘He broke down in tears’
“I was a drugged and abused woman.
“It was like I was dead.
“They treated me like a piece of meat.”
One of the men who had sex with Gisele without her knowledge risked killing her because she has HIV.
Her husband, from whom she is divorcing, pleaded guilty to rape, as did 13 other men.
But 35 defendants deny the rape, and one more is on the run.
In total, the number of attackers is estimated to be 83, and the two-year investigation failed to identify all of them.
The accused, aged between 21 and 68, include a councilman, a nurse, a fireman, an IT specialist, a prison guard and a journalist.
Due to the large number of defendants, the trial is being held in the renovated exhibition center in Avignon and will last until December 20.
There is not enough space on the dock for all the accused.
In the gallery, besides the unsuspecting public, there are also those who are not detained.
Pelicot, however, is being held in prison and is likely to receive a 20-year sentence for his crimes.
The world would not have known Pelicot’s name and the trial would have been held in secret had it not been for the brave victim.
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Daughter Caroline and son Florian show their support for their mother at the trialCredit: AFP
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One of the accused hides his face while talking to his lawyerCredit: AFP
Gisele, who waived her right to anonymity, ignored requests from the prosecutor’s office and lawyers to bar journalists and the public from entering the court.
That’s because he wants to shed light on the scourge of men drugging women before intercourse.
Some of the accused claimed that they thought it was permissible with the explanation that “she is his wife, he does what he wants with her”.
Another told police he thought it must be legal because it was caught on video.
The first sign that something was wrong came when Gisele, who married Pelicot in 1980 and has two sons and a daughter, started losing hair and weight.
She would forget entire days and jokingly ask her husband if she was on drugs.
He tearfully replied, “You really think I could do that?”
The pair went to her doctor together and the GP suggested Gisele may have suffered a “brain attack”.
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The shocking events took place in their family home in a small town in FranceCredit: Alamy
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Their home was in Mazan, in southern France, credit: AFP
The truth only came to light four years ago after Pelicot was arrested in September 2020 for filming women lifting up their skirts in a supermarket in the town of Carpentras, not far from their home in Mazano.
This ended the reign of depravity that lasted until 2011.
Police seized Pelicot’s cell phone and laptop, discovering 20,000 videos and photos.
Many of them were in a folder called “abuse” and showed various men performing sexual acts on Gisele while she was unconscious.
Among them is refrigerator engineer Thierry Postat (61), who is accused of assaulting her while her legs and hands were tied.
It is said that married nurse Redouan El Farihi abused Gisele with her husband for three hours.
Pelicot went to great lengths to ensure that his wife did not suspect that anyone else had been in their bedroom.
‘An insult to my intelligence’
He insisted that all the other men involved not use aftershave in case Gisele could smell it on her body when she woke up.
Pelicot also made them undress in another room to prevent any strange objects from ending up under the bed and to ensure that his wife always woke up in her pyjamas.
Gisele told the court: “I’ve never woken up in different clothes.”
She now refers to her husband as “Mr. Pelicot” and plans to revert to her maiden name when the trial is over.
Yesterday, the defense team tried to undermine Gisele’s reputation by bringing up her two-year relationship with a friend.
But the housewife insisted that her lover was the only man she knowingly slept with, apart from her husband.
Gisele also denied that she ever allowed Pelicoto to film them making love and revealed that she rejected his suggestion that they try alternative sexual partners.
When asked if she agreed to have sex with one of the defendants, she replied: “It is an insult to my intelligence.
“These individuals were fully aware of my condition.
He said he was caught in a supermarket in Carpentras filming up women’s skirts.
Gisele Pelicot
“I have never knowingly participated in any of these things.”
It was only in December 2020 that Pelicot told her that he had been caught in a petticoat.
In a weak voice, Gisele told the packed court: “We were in the kitchen when he sat down and burst into tears.
“He said he did something stupid. I asked him what.
“He said he was caught in a supermarket in Carpentras filming up women’s skirts.
“In 50 years, Mr. Pelicot has never photographed other women.
“I said ‘I forgive you, because we’ve never had a problem in 50 years.
“But there won’t be a next time, or I’ll leave.”
There was no forgiveness when detectives later told Gisele the extent of her husband’s horrific crimes.
The grandmother discovered the terrible impact his unspeakable actions had on their once happy family.
‘State of shock’
She said: “When I told my daughter, she screamed like a wild animal.
“I will never forget this.
“When I told my sons that, I don’t think they really understood.
“They were aloof and didn’t react much.
“I think they were in a state of shock.
“They said, ‘Don’t say such nonsense.’
“That night, the kids were ringing the bell all the time saying they weren’t going away — they were worried I might die.”
Under the pseudonym Caroline Darian, their 45-year-old daughter wrote a book about the case in 2022 titled And I Stopped Calling You Dad.
The court heard this week that her father kept a file on his computer labeled “Around my daughter, naked” which contained nude pictures of Caroline.
She fears that she was also raped by unknown people based on her father’s statement, and adds: “I am convinced that I was drugged, but he will never admit it.”
And there could even be many victims.
In another case, Pelicot was charged with the rape and murder of a 23-year-old real estate agent in Paris in 1991.
Thanks to Gisele, the society will learn about all the horrors that were inflicted on her.
Grant Rollings
He pleaded guilty to one count of attempted rape in 1999 thanks to DNA evidence.
There are other women who appear to have been drugged and raped as a result of the online sex ring Pelicot joined.
He found his accomplices on an online chat room called “A Son Insu” in French, which translates to “without their knowledge”.
The now-banned site has been linked to 23,000 potential crimes from 2021 to 2024 alone.
Until the trial began, this was known as the “Mazan case,” and Pelicot was named only as Dominique P.
Thanks to Gisele, the society will learn about all the horrors that were inflicted on her.
But while she appeared mostly calm and composed when she confronted her alleged attackers yesterday, she hides terrible scars that may never heal.
As she said in court: “When you look at me, you think she is strong, this woman, but inside she is a pile of rubble.”
“The facade is strong.
“It’s not the same inside.”
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education