by A French husband accused of drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over the past decade has said: “I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom.”
Dominique Pelicot, 71, spoke for the first time during his trial, saying: “I recognize the facts in their entirety.” He is facing charges including rape and gang rape of his ex-wife Gisele Pellicot, as well as various breaches of privacy by recording and distributing sexual images.
He is on trial along with 50 other men. Fourteen of the other defendants also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
“They all knew, they can’t say otherwise,” he said of the co-defendants in the trial.
The grandfather appeared in the dock at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, after a week of ill health which delayed his testimony. He appeared with a cane.
Ms Pelicot insisted on a public trial for him and the other men accused of raping her and to shed light on sexual violence, her lawyers said.
For many, she is a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France. On Saturday, hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered in cities across the country to show her support.
In a dramatic scene in court on Tuesday, Ms Pelicot was allowed to immediately respond to her husband’s confession, saying: “For me, it’s hard to hear.
“For the past 50 years, I have lived with a man who I would not have imagined for one second that he could do these actions. I had complete confidence in this man.”
Wearing a thick gray shirt, Pélicot dealt with crimes that saw his own daughter describe him on the stand as “one of the biggest sexual predators” in recent years.
He said: “Today, I say, with the duties we all have, that I am a rapist, like everyone in this room. They cannot say otherwise.”
Offering further mitigation, he said: “I am accused of many things. We are not born with distortions, we make them. Even if it is paradoxical, I did not consider my wife as a thing.”
He added: “I am guilty of what I have done. I put my wife, my children, my grandchildren through this. I regret what I did. I ask for forgiveness even if it is not localized.” He later told the court of his ex-wife: “I loved her very much for 40 years and I loved her very much for 10 years… I destroyed everything, I lost everything. I should never have done that.”
Pelicot also focused on alleged crimes he said he suffered as a child, saying he was raped when he was nine, and had to witness another sexual assault when he was 14 . ” he said.
He told the court how his life changed when he met his wife as a teenager.
“I was very happy with her,” he said. “She was the opposite of a mother, who was completely rebellious. We had three children, and grandchildren, whom I never touched.”
He said his wife did not deserve this.
At the end of her brief statement, Ms Pelicot lowered her head, putting on her sunglasses.
Pelicot has been remanded since 2020, when he was first arrested on suspicion of drugging and then raping Ms Pelicot, and inviting the men he contacted online to do the same.
Last week, psychologists described him as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who appeared to be a normal husband during the day, and drugged his wife so that strangers could rape her at night.
His daughter, Caroline Darian, 46, told the court last week that he was “one of the biggest sexual predators” in recent years.
She accused him of secretly photographing her in the nude, together with her two sisters-in-law. This was at the same family home in Mazan, about 20 miles from Avignon, that Pelicot invited the alleged rapists.
On the stand Pelicot claimed he “still loves” his three grown children, saying: “They are in my heart.”
Pelicot was first arrested in September 2020 for allegedly secretly filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras. His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of pornographic videos and photographs of women, the court heard.
In a hard drive, hidden under a printer, was a file called “Abuses,” authorities said. He classified the attackers’ nickname and phone number, along with 3,800 photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020. Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes by 72 men, of which 51 have been identified.
Pelicot’s alleged sex ring involved advertising on the site of “partners” on an online forum. Of the 83 men involved, the police identified 51 between the ages of 26 and 73 and arrested them.
In a separate case, Pelicot is accused of the rape and murder of a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. He also admitted to one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing established a case against him.
Avignon’s aggravated case will last until December 21.
