A FRENCH woman who was allegedly drugged by her husband so 72 men could rape her has described her bedroom as a “torture chamber”.
Gisèle Pélicot, 72, had remained silent during the first three days of the rape trial but took the stands yesterday to speak about the harrowing case that has shocked France.
EPAGisèle Pélicot leaving the criminal court in Avignon[/caption]
DRDominique P is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over a 10-year period[/caption]
AFPGisèle took the stand yesterday[/caption]
AFPGisèle sitting in the court alongside her daughter Caroline Darian (L)[/caption]
Her husband Dominique Pélicot, 71, allegedly invited the men he met online to assault her after spiking her food to knock her out.
The brave mum stood tall and faced dozens of men accused of sexually assaulting her while she allegedly lay unconscious.
Ms Pélicot said she does not know how she survived the atrocities that spanned over nine years by her husband who she thought was the love of her life.
She described the bedroom where she was raped as a “torture chamber”.
“I don’t know how I survived … I ask myself how I am standing before you,” she told the court.
The mum even said she could have never “imagined” she was drugged “even for a single second”.
“I lost 10 years of my life. Those are years I will never get back.”
Ms Pelicot revealed she thought of taking her own life, but with the support of her family and children, she gathered the courage to build a new life and identity.
Ms Pélicot could have chosen to stay anonymous and let the trial happen behind closed doors under French laws.
But she decided to come out and speak of the horror she faced as she told the court “no woman should suffer” what she did.
She told the court in a composed manner: “If other women [in France] wake up with no memory, they might remember my testimony.
“No woman should suffer from being drugged and victimised. We must address this scourge”.
The court heard how the past five decades of her life unravelled in 2020 when French cops told her that her husband Dominique had been inviting other male strangers over to join him in raping her while she remained unconscious.
He is said to have then filmed the horrid attacks over nine years between 2011 and 2020.
Prosecutors claim that the husband participated in the rapes, recorded them, and used degrading language to encourage the other men.
He described at earlier hearings the many measures he used to keep his wife and family from learning of his terrible activities.
She also said having to be tested for HIV as one of her alleged attackers who came to rape her “six times” was “seropositive”.
“My life was in danger but not one second did anyone stop,” she added.
“Lucky I didn’t catch it. But not once did Mr Pélicot say to himself, ‘I’ve gone too far’. He showed no pity, no pity at all.”
Ms Pélicot also informed the court yesterday she was “convinced” she had Alzheimer’s after first experiencing memory loss in 2011 and then in 2013.
She said how she’d asked her husband if he was drugging her as a joke – but he allegedly “broke down in tears” before saying: “You actually think I could do that?”
The mum even said her husband came with her to see a doctor about concerns she had Alzheimer’s – and they allegedly told her she may have had a “brain seizure”.
She kept referring to her husband Dominique as “Mr Pélicot”, who she says she’s in the process of divorcing.
Stephane Babonneau, one of her lawyers, said there will be some “extremely difficult moments” for her as she testifies in the ongoing rape trial.
Ms Pélicot admitted it was difficult for her to come out in public and reveal these harrowing details.
“When you look at me you think she’s a strong woman, but inside she’s a heap of ruins. The facade is strong, inside it’s not the same.”
THE ACCUSATIONS
Gisèle’s husband, Dominique Pélicot, 71, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty following his trial at Vaucluse Criminal Court.
He and 51 other male defendants are charged with “aggravated rape” following multiple videoed attacks on Gisèle Pélicot, 72.
On Tuesday he reportedly answered “yes” when asked if he was guilty of the accusations against him.
But the horrific case may never have come to light had Pélicot not been arrested in 2020 in a supermarket in Carpentras for filming up the skirts of other customers.
When police searched his camera phone, and equipment kept at his home, they found thousands of photos and videos of the abuse.
Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.
Yesterday the French court heard that in some of the heinous footage, Pélicot allegedly takes turns with three other men to rape his wife in one single incident.
The instances of the horrific abuse sometimes lasted as long as six hours and alleged drugged victim Ms Pélicot could be heard snorting and breathing heavily in clips, the court was told.
The court in Avignon also heard yesterday that Pélicot once accused his wife of infidelity when she discovered she had a sexually transmitted disease.
Ms Pélicot allegedly told her husband she needed treatment for an unexplained sexual illness – to which he suggested she’d been having affairs.
He reportedly asked her: “So, what are you doing with your days?”
On Tuesday, it emerged that the couple’s child – Caroline Darian – was pictured with no clothes on, almost certainly while drugged.
Mr Pélicot kept the images in a computer file entitled “Around my daughter, naked,” the court heard.
When Presiding Judge Roger Arata began reading out details of the pictures, Ms Darian – who was in the public gallery – collapsed in tears, and had to leave the court building for around 20 minutes.
She said she was “haunted by the fear” that her father may have invited men to rape her too, adding: “I’m convinced I was drugged, but he’ll never admit it.”
‘Monster of Avignon’: The case that shocked France
BY Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
FRENCH pensioner Dominique Pélicot is on trial accused of drugging his wife and allowing 72 strangers to rape her.
The 71-year-old allegedly invited the men he met online to assault his wife Gisele Pélicot, 72, after slipping Lorazepam into her food to knock her out.
He is said to have then filmed the horrid attacks over nine years between 2011 and 2020.
After being married for two years since meeting in 1971, the pair went on to have three children together.
When the family moved to Mazan two years later, the horrific campaign of alleged sexual abuse directed by Pélicot is believed to have started in 2011 while they were residing close to Paris.
Cops launched an investigation When a security officer discovered the pensioner secretly recording three women’s skirts in a shopping centre in September 2020.
On his computer, hundreds of images and videos of his wife—mostly in the foetal position and clearly unconscious—were discovered, according to the police.
The pictures allegedly depicted numerous rapes that took place at the couple’s house in Mazan, a 6,000-person hamlet in Provence some 20 miles from Avignon.
Investigators also discovered talks on a website called coco.fr, which the police have since taken down, where he allegedly invited strangers to his house so he could have sex with his wife.
Investigators were then informed by Pélicot that he had given his wife strong tranquillizers, including the anxiety-relieving medication Temesta.
Prosecutors claim that the husband participated in the rapes, recorded them, and used degrading language to encourage the other men.
He described at earlier hearings the many measures he used to keep his wife and family from learning of his terrible activities.
Dominique Pélicot is also accused of a 1991 murder and rape, both of which he denies, and a 1999 attempted rape, which he acknowledged following DNA testing.
Although examinations published in court documents reportedly found that the man had a need to feel ‘all-powerful’ over the female body, experts said the man did not appear to be mentally ill.
The shocking trial is due to last until December 20.
The family home, in Mazan, some 20 miles from Avignon, allegedly became a crime scene over at least a decade, when streams of men were invited to attack Ms Pélicot.
Her husband is said to have used an online libertine platform to contact them between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
They are all being tried alongside Mr Pélicot , a former employee at French utility company, EDF (Electricity of France).
One of 51 accused said he thought that the presence of cameras made the rapes legal, the court heard.
Judge Arata said the unnamed man told police: “It couldn’t have been anything bad because it was all filmed.”
Another defendant told detectives he thought Ms Pélicot was “play-acting at being asleep,” as part of a libertine fantasy.
“The victim was not asleep, but unconscious, which explains why the incident lasted so long,’ said the Judge.
Ms Pélicot, mother of three, was supported by her two adult sons as she remained in the public gallery on Tuesday, the second day of the trial.
He husband was allegedly a multiple rapist who moved his family from greater Paris in 1991, and later allegedly set up the sex ring.
It involved advertising on a site for ‘partners’ on an online forum called ‘Without Her Knowing’.
Participants would discuss performing acts on unwitting partners, and then film their depravity, before storing the videos on a USB drive dubbed “Abuses”.
In her case, the data eventually fell into the hand of the police, who confirmed it enabled them to identify the 92 cases of rape.
Of the 72 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.
Mr Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting tablets of Temesta – a powerful anxiolytic – into her evening dinner.
He then invited strangers from the online forum into the couple’s bedroom, so that his wife could be raped while unconscious.
All were told to wash their hands, and not to wear aftershave, so she would not sense they were strangers.
In a separate case, he has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
How you can get help?
WOMAN’S Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
Always keep your phone nearby.
Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
If you are in danger, call 999.
Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Dominique allegedly gave the dozens of men a series of sick rules on ‘how to rape his wife’
AFPMs Gisèle was subjected to severe sexual abuse by her husband and dozens of other strangers[/caption]
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