by The trial began on Monday for a French pensioner accused of recruiting more than 50 strangers online to rape his wife after drugging her unconscious.
In a case that shocked France, the main suspect Dominique Pélicot, 71, stood in the dock alongside 50 other men in the southern city of Avignon.
They are accused of raping Gisèle Pélicot who, according to her lawyers, was so distraught that she was unaware of 10 years of abuse at the couple’s mansion in Provence.
“It embarrasses me, I feel dirty, dirty, betrayed. It’s a tsunami, I’ve been hit by a high-speed train,” she told the judge.
Protesters from two feminist groups, Les Amazones d’Avignon and Osez le féminisme 84, demonstrated outside the courthouse, chanting: “Rapists, we see you, victims, we believe you.”
Police began investigating Pélicot in September 2020 when a security guard caught him secretly filming up the skirts of three women in a shopping mall.
Roger Arata, who presided, announced that all the hearings would be public, giving Mr. Pélicot his wish for “full publicity until the end”.
03:59 PM BST
That’s all for today
Our live coverage is over. We’ll be back soon with more updates from the trial.
03:57 PM BST
The test ends for the day
The trial is over for the day.
On Tuesday, the presiding judge will read a summary of the 400-page indictment.
Investigators will be interviewed on Wednesday and Gisèle Pélicot and other family members will begin on Thursday.
03:52 PM BST
Pictured: His wife arrives at the courthouse
03:42 PM BST
Miss Pélicot has ‘a terrifying ordeal, but a relief’
One of Ms Pélicot’s lawyers, Stephane Babonneau, said: “She was scared at this moment but she is relieved that the hearing is open and she will not be locked up for four months with her attackers.
“She wants to raise awareness as widely as possible about date rape drugs so this doesn’t happen again.”
03:18 PM BST
Doubt admits that it gives powerful tranquilizers to the woman
The main suspect Dominique Pélicot, who is pleading guilty, admitted to investigators that he gave his wife powerful tranquilizers, specifically Temesta, a drug that reduces anxiety.
The pills were allegedly slipped into his wife’s food and drink to put her to sleep before he and others raped her, police said.
03:13 PM BST
His wife refused a closed-door trial ‘as her attackers wanted’
Gisèle Pélicot, the suspect’s wife, did not want a closed-door trial because “that is what her attackers would have wanted,” according to her lawyer, Antoine Camus.
However, the trial will be a “terrible ordeal” for her, Mr Camus said.
“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes she suffered over 10 years,” he told AFP, adding that her client had “no memory” of the abuse she discovered only in 2020.
02:29 PM BST
Children of wives holding hands in ‘united face’
Pélicot’s wife’s children have put up a “unified start” in their father’s trial, according to reports.
Margaux d’Adhémar wrote to Figaro: “The family sat, united and dignified, on the prosecution’s bench. Heads held high. They all held each other by the hands, the hands, close to each other. A united front, solid, anchor”.
At the heart of the case is the issue of date-rape drugs, which are any substances that incapacitate another person and make that person vulnerable to sexual assault, including rape.
One of Pélicot’s daughters, Caroline Darian, who has written a book based on her father’s crimes, is at the forefront of raising awareness of such substances that lead to “chemical submission”.
02:08 PM BST
Be ‘ashamed’ of actions
Speaking to the press on Monday morning, Pélicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said her client felt immense remorse.
“He is ashamed of what he has done, it is unacceptable”, she told reporters, saying that his criminal actions were part of a “form of addiction”. “My client’s line of conduct is that he recognizes what he has done and has not disputed one iota from the beginning,” she said.
Many defendants argue that they believed they were participating in the consensual fantasies of a libertine couple.
However, Pélicot told the judges that “everyone knew” that his wife was drugged and unconscious. The investigating magistrate also insisted that “everyone had free will” and could “leave the premises”.
Only two people contacted through the website coco.gg, which is used to recruit strangers to have an affair with his wife, refused to come to the couple’s home but neither filed a police complaint .
01:53 PM BST
Avoid smoking and perfume to avoid a strong smell that could wake up his wife
It is alleged that Dominique Pélicot forbade the other men to use tobacco or perfume to prevent a strong smell from waking up his wife while she was being abused.
The men are also accused of washing their hands in hot water to avoid a sudden change in temperature, wearing clothes in the kitchen so they don’t leave any clothes in the bedroom, parking near a school and walking to the house in the dark to avoid suspicion of avoid neighbors. .
01:20 PM BST
Prime suspect in the picture
Dominique Pélicot, 71, is accused of recruiting more than 50 strangers online to rape his wife at their home in Provence.
01:14 PM BST
Welcome to the blog
Welcome to The Telegraph’s live coverage of Dominique Pélicot’s trial in Avignon.
