French national Dominique Pelicot, 71, has confessed to drugging his wife so that he and dozen others could sexually assault her. In his first testimony, Pelicot said, “I am a rapist” during a trial of a crime that has shook France.
“I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” AFP quoted Pelicot saying, referring to the 50 other defendants in the mass trial — men he allegedly recruited online to rape his then-wife Gisele Pelicot.
“They all knew” that he was inviting them to rape her, he said.
“She did not deserve this.” he added.
Dominique Pelicot’s testimony is anticipated to be crucial for the 50 other defendants, aged 26 to 74, with hearings for four of these cases scheduled to take place in the coming days.
Investigators listed 72 men suspected of having taken part in abusing Gisele Pelicot other than her husband, but only managed to identify 50.
All those 50 are on trial. They include a fireman, a male nurse, a prison guard and a journalist.
What is Pelicot accused of?
Dominique Pelicot is accused of administering anti-anxiety drugs to Gisele over a period of almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020. He has been charged with raping her while she was unconscious, and recruiting dozens of other men he met online to do the same.
Dominique Pelicot had admitted the rape charges earlier. However, on Tuesday he spoke about his crime for the first time at length since the trial began on September 2.
He spoke of his “difficult” childhood, saying his parents “assaulted each other”.
He briefly mentioned what he described as two “traumatic” episodes, being victim of a rape when he was nine years old and another on a construction site as an apprentice.
“I always carried these traumatising events with me,” he said, his eyes welling up and his voice shaking.
Pelicot’s ex-wife Gisele Pelicot, who obtained a divorce from him last month, remained stoic as he spoke, then she took the stand herself.
“Not a for a single second did I doubt this man,” she said.
Her former husband then asked her and others for forgiveness.
“I am guilty of what I have done. I beg my wife, my children, my grandchildren… to accept my apologies. I ask for forgiveness,” he said.
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