Throughout the four-month trial, at the end of each courtroom break, the accused would gather by the metal detector before muscling past the mostly female press corps, also waiting to enter the chamber. Inside, one by one, the men took their turn to share their accounts.
A court-appointed psychiatrist Laurent Layet testified that the accused were neither “monsters” nor “ordinary men”. Some wept. A few confessed. But most offered an array of excuses, with many saying they were simply “libertines” – as the French put it – indulging a couple’s fantasies, and that they had no way of knowing Ms Pelicot had not consented. Others claimed Dominique Pelicot had intimidated them.
There are very few clear patterns or shared characteristics among the 51 men on trial. They represent a wide spectrum in society: three-quarters have children. Half are married or in a relationship. Just over a quarter of them said they had been abused or raped as children.
There is no discernible grouping by age or job or social class. The two traits they all share are that they’re male, and that they made contact on an illicit online chat forum called Coco, known for catering to swingers, as well as attracting paedophiles and drug dealers. According to French prosecutors, the site, which was shut down earlier this year, has been cited in more than 23,000 reports of criminal activity.
The BBC has found that 23 of those on trial – or 45% – had previous criminal convictions. Although the authorities do not collect precise data, according to some estimates that is approximately four times the national average in France.
“There’s no typical profile of men who commit sexual violence,” concluded Labouret.
One person who has followed the case more closely than most is Juliette Campion, a French journalist who has been in court throughout the trial to report for the public broadcaster France Info. “I think this case could have happened in other countries, of course. But I think it says a lot about how men see women in France… About the notion of consent,” she says.
“A lot of men don’t know what consent actually is, so [the case] says a lot about our country, sadly.”