A 71-year-old man accused of drugging his wife so he and scores of strangers could assault her has told a French court: “I am a rapist,” as he returned to the dock after illness.
Dominique Pélicot used a cane as he slowly entered the courtroom in the southern city of Avignon. “I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” Pélicot said, referring to the 50 other defendants in the mass trial – men he allegedly recruited online to rape his then wife, Gisèle Pélicot.
He said “they all knew” he was inviting them to rape her. “I am guilty of what I did,” Pélicot said. “I pray for my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did, I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.”
He added: “She did not deserve this.”
Dominique Pélicot is accused of administering anti-anxiety drugs to Gisèle over a period of almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020. While she was unconscious, it is alleged he would rape her and recruit dozens of other men he met online to do the same.
He has admitted the charges, but Tuesday is the first time he has spoken at any length since the trial began on 2 September. The court may also hear more from Gisèle Pélicot, who was present in court alongside Dominique’s brother Joel.
Beatrice Zavarro, the defendant’s lawyer, told AFP on Monday that he had “a clot in the bladder” and a kidney infection. But a medical exam ordered by the presiding judge found he was fit to appear in court, avoiding a potentially lengthy delay to proceedings.
Adjustments would be made to the “sequencing of the hearings” and Dominique Pélicot would get “regular rest”, Zavarro said, adding that the health complaints were not an attempt by her client to escape justice.
His testimony will be decisive for the 50 other men aged 26 to 74 who are on trial, four of whose cases are due to be heard in the coming days. Some of the accused have admitted he told them he was drugging his then wife, while others claim they believed they were participating in a swinger couple’s fantasy.
The case has prompted outrage across France, with thousands demonstrating at the weekend to demand an end to rape and in support of Gisèle Pélicot. She had requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse. “Thanks to you I have the strength to see this fight through to the end,” she told demonstrators on Monday.