Dominique Pelicot claims co-defendants were aware of a decade of abuse, admits to drugging and raping his wife.
Dominique Pelicot has admitted to drugging and raping his wife for more than ten years in a startling court testimony.
In his first testimony since the trial started on September 2, Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old man accused of drugging his wife Gisèle Pelicot and enlisting the help of dozens of men to rape her over a period of more than a decade, acknowledged to all allegations.
Pelicot made a shocking confession in front of 50 other defendants who were alleged to have shared in the abuse: “I am a rapist like the others in this room,” he declared, adding that “they all knew, they cannot say the contrary.”
In spite of this, only 15 out of the 50 men have acknowledged being raped, and several of them maintain they were merely involved in sexual actions.
Pelicot apologized to his ex-wife, adding, “She did not deserve this.” I was really content with her. He expressed his unwavering love for her by saying, “I loved her immensely and I still do.”
Gisèle, who bravely gave up her right to remain anonymous at the beginning of the trial, gave an emotional response, saying, “It is hard for me to listen to this.” I lived with a man for fifty years who I never thought could be able to do this. I had total faith in him.
Gisèle’s legal team requested that the trial be made public because they thought that this would put the burden of proof back on the accused.
Pelicot also shared memories of his difficult upbringing, including how, when he was nine years old, a male nurse had abused him. He said that he had considered suicide after learning of his wife’s extramarital affair, but he insisted that he had never hated her.
Pelicot acknowledged that the thousands of films he took of men abusing his unconscious wife were both a source of “pleasure” and “insurance” to help identify the perpetrators.
In his evidence, he also discussed how he was powerless to halt the abuse even when Gisèle started to experience memory loss, weight loss, and hair loss—symptoms she was afraid were the result of a brain tumor or Alzheimer’s. Later on, it was learned that these were adverse reactions to the sedatives her husband had been giving her. Pelicot said, “I tried to stop, but my addiction was stronger.” “I violated her confidence.”
In addition to the mistreatment of his spouse, Pelicot is accused of drugging and assaulting his daughter Caroline after pictures of her in semi-nakedness were discovered on his laptop. He has refuted this allegation. Furthermore, he unequivocally declared that he had never hurt his grandchildren.
Pelicot detailed how he met a man nurse online in 2010 who recommended drugging his wife, gave instructions on how to do it, and shared pictures of intoxicated women, which is how his perversion started. Pelicot stated, “That’s when it all clicked.” “That’s when it all began.”
Pelicot was “sharing his truth,” according to his attorney Béatrice Zavarro, but he seemed “downtrodden.” She continued by saying that “everything about Dominique Pelicot” would eventually come to light during the ongoing trial.
Pelicot missed over a week of the proceedings due to illness, which included kidney stones and an infection. However, he has since resumed his evidence with regular interruptions permitted.
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