The 71-year-old Frenchman admitted in court that he drugged his then-wife so he and other men could rape her, according to ABC News.
In court, Dominique Pélicot begged her and their three children for forgiveness.
Today I maintain that, along with the other men here, I am a rapist. They knew everything. They can’t say otherwise.
The Pélicot case raised new awareness of sexual assault. Although he had previously confessed to investigators, his testimony in court would be crucial for a panel of judges to decide the fate of some 50 other men standing trial with him. Many denied raping Gisèle Pélicot, saying they were manipulated by her then-husband or claiming they believed she consented.
Gisèle Pélicot has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for agreeing to give up her anonymity in the case, allowing the trial to be public and speaking openly to media.
Dominique told the judges how he was raped by a medical man in hospital at the age of 9 and forced to take part in a gang rape at the age of 14. He also described the trauma he experienced when his parents adopted a little girl and witnessed his father’s inappropriate behaviour towards her.
My father used to do the same thing with the little girl. After my father’s death, my brother said that men used to come to our house. I don’t really want to talk about this, I am just ashamed of my father. In the end, I didn’t do any better.
According to court documents, a security agent caught Pélicot in 2020 making videos under women’s skirts in a supermarket. Police searched his home and found thousands of photos and videos of men engaging in sexual acts with Gisèle Pélicot while she was apparently lying unconscious on a bed.
The footage helped police track down most of the 72 suspects they were looking for.
When police called her in for questioning in late 2020, she first told them her husband was “a great guy,” according to legal documents. Then they showed her some pictures and she left her husband.
If convicted, he faces 20 years in prison. In addition to Pélicot, 50 other men between the ages of 26 and 74 are on trial. However, Pélicot’s long-awaited testimony was postponed for several days after he fell ill, suffering from kidney stones and a urinary tract infection, his lawyers announced.
