A FRENCH pensioner has been accused of drugging his wife and allowing 72 strangers to rape her.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, allegedly invited men he met online to attack his wife Gisele Pélicot after they slipped lorazepam into her food to knock her out.
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Gisele P faces her husband in court after he allegedly drugged her and let 72 strangers rape herCredit: AFP
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Gisele arrived in court after requesting a public trial for her husband DominiqueCredit: AFP
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Dominique P is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over a 10-year periodCredit: DR
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Dominique is on trial in FranceCredits: Unknown
Dominique, who has been married to his wife for more than 50 years, allegedly filmed the men raping her while she was unconscious.
The trial began today in Avignon, France, after he was arrested at the end of 2020, and the police searched his phone, computer and hard drives.
On them they found videos of abuse that Dominique allegedly shared in a perverted chat room called “A son insu”, which means “without her knowledge”.
Gisele, who waived her right to anonymity, bravely confronted her husband and alleged attackers in the courtroom.
She had no idea about the rapes, which allegedly took place for almost ten years, until the police showed her the video.
A shocking 92 attacks were recorded with a list of 72 abusers, including 51 people who have been identified.
Along with Dominique, fifty men between the ages of 26 and 74 are on trial today.
Asked to confirm his name and address at the start of proceedings, Dominique said: “My home is a prison, you know that”.
One of Gisele’s lawyers, Antoine Camus, said the trial would be a “terrible ordeal” for Gisele.
He said: “For the first time she will have to relive the rapes she suffered over 10 years.”
Gisele, 72, does not remember the abuse she suffered.
She is attending the trial with her three children after deciding not to have one behind closed doors because “that’s what her attackers would want,” her lawyer told AFP.
Officers arrested Dominique in September 2020 when a security guard caught him trying to film up the skirts of three women at a mall.
Officials said at the time that they found hundreds of pictures and videos of his wife, visibly unconscious and mostly in the fetal position, on his computer.
They allegedly showed dozens of rapes at the couple’s home in Mazan, a village of 6,000 people outside Avignon in Provence.
Investigators also found chats on a site called coco.fr, which has since been shut down, which included a forum where men exchange information about sexual encounters they had without their victims’ knowledge.
Dominique allegedly crushed Témest tablets into his wife’s evening meals and then invited strangers into their bedroom to assault her.
He admitted to giving Gisele the drugs when questioned by prosecutors.
Dominique participated in the rapes, recorded them and encouraged the other men with degrading language, according to the prosecutors.
When officers searched his devices, they found a file labeled “abuse” on a flash drive.
On it were hundreds of videos with the dates, names and nature of the abuse.
Among the accused rapists were a forklift driver, a fireman, a company boss and a journalist.
Some were single, others were married or divorced, and some were family men.
Most participated only once, but some participated up to six times.
Their defense was that they were living a fantasy with a willing couple.
But Dominique told investigators that everyone knew his wife was drugged without her knowledge.
He also told prosecutors that only three men left the house shortly after they arrived, while all the others continued to have intercourse with his wife.
The expert said her condition “was closer to coma than sleep.”
The rapes allegedly spanned almost ten years from July 2011 to October 2020.
It started while the couple lived near Paris and continued after they moved to Mazan two years later.
The Pélicots shared a large family home and – outwardly – were very respectable retirees with family members who visited them regularly.
Neighbors spoke of them as ‘lovely people’ who, according to court evidence, held parties around their swimming pool, in the well-kept garden.
Dominique is also accused of murder and rape in 1991, which he denies, and attempted rape in 1999, which he admitted to after DNA testing.
Experts said the man did not appear to be mentally ill, but in documents seen by AFP, they said he had a need to feel “omnipotent” over a woman’s body.
The trial will last until December 20.
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Gisele arrives at the courthouse during her husband’s trialCredit: AFP
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Gisele was supported by her three children at the trialCredit: AFP
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