CW: Distressing content
A man in France has pleaded guilty at trial to sedating his then-wife, raping her, and inviting other men to rape her for ten years.
Court proceedings against Dominique Pélicot – and 50 other men accused of raping his now ex-wife Gisèle with his approval – began last week.
Under French law, complainants have the right to remain private during a trial.
Instead, Gisèle Pélicot has insisted on “complete, total publicity”.
“When other women… wake up with no memory, they might remember the testimony of Ms. Pélicot,” she said.
Background
Gisèle Pélicot and Dominique Pélicot got married when they were both 21. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
In November 2020, Dominique was investigated by police after he was caught filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in southeastern France, where he and his wife lived.
Police allege that when they searched Dominique’s computer, they found a folder labelled “abuses”containing over 20,000 images of an unconscious woman being raped by many men.
Gisèle told the court that “police saved my life” by investigating her husband’s computer and bringing her in for questioning.
She had no memory of the rapes and did not recognise any of the men in the images shown to her.
During her testimony, Gisèle recounted experiencing “total blackouts” beginning in 2011. By 2013, she became increasingly worried about developing Alzheimer’s disease due to chronic memory lapses, weight loss, and hair loss.
She said: “I didn’t understand why I had these moments like this.”
Dominique has admitted to putting sleeping pills into his wife’s evening meals to sedate her before raping her, and arranging for others to rape her from 2011 to 2020.
He told police that while Gisèle was unconscious, he invited a number of men to their home to film them raping her.
Dominique met most of these men via a now-banned online chat forum. Their ages range between 26 and 74.
Of the 83 suspects in the footage, police have identified and charged 50.
The Trial
Dominique has pleaded guilty to all the charges against him, which include aggravated rape, drugging, and violating the privacy of his wife.
His lawyer described his actions as “a form of addiction,” and told reporters that Dominique “is ashamed of what he did, it is unforgivable.”
He is also accused of violating the privacy of his daughter and two daughters-in-law after illicit photos of them were also found on his devices.
Dominique faces up to 20 years in prison.
Most of the other 50 defendants have been charged with aggravated rape, and could face up to 20 years if convicted.
Many have pleaded not guilty, with some saying they thought they were in a consensual roleplaying scenario where Gisèle pretended to be asleep.
Gisèle disputed those claims, saying: “They knew exactly what they were doing and what shape I was in… [these videos] are scenes of horror for me”.
Similarly, Dominique said “everyone knew” Gisèle was drugged and unconscious, adding that “each individual had free will” and could have “left the premises.”
The rape trial in France has shocked the world, with news of the wife broadcast widely.
Women in France
The trial comes amid calls to change the country’s attitude towards sexual violence, led by high-profile French actor Judith Godrèche.
In February, Godrèche, 51, publicly alleged a director she worked with when she was 14 sexually assaulted her on the set of a film.
In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, French journalist Rokhaya Diallo said the country had been slow to embrace the #MeToo movement, but that the support for Godrèche “signaled that perhaps the larger culture here is finally ready to push back.”
Advocates are now urging French lawmakers to include the term consent in the legal definition of rape.
Under current French law, rape is defined as “an act of sexual penetration… committed on a person, with violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.”
In March, President Emmanuel Macron said he supported this change.
