One of 50 men accused of raping the French woman Gisèle Pélicot after she was drugged by her husband accepted the charges on Thursday, saying he was sorry for what he did.
Lionel R, a 44-year-old supermarket worker and father of three, was among dozens of men accused of participating in the mass rape of Pélicot over a decade in a trial that has shocked France.
Gisèle Pélicot’s then husband, Dominique Pélicot, has admitted to drugging her into the state of a “deep coma” and inviting strangers he met in online chatrooms to rape her.
Gisèle Pélicot, who said she had not consented, requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit rape and sexual abuse.
Lionel R admitted in court that he had indeed raped Gisèle Pélicot on 2 December 2018, though he said he had not intended to. “Since I never obtained Mrs Pélicot’s consent, I have no choice but to accept the facts,” he told the court.
He said to Gisèle Pélicot: “I am sorry, I can only imagine the nightmare you’ve lived through … and I am part of this nightmare. I know my apologies won’t change what happened, but I wanted to tell you that.
“If I had known she wasn’t aware [of what would happen], I wouldn’t have gone there,” he told the court. “I should have checked that she was OK with it. I didn’t talk to her, so I could not get her consent. I feel guilty for what I did.
“I never told myself: ‘I will rape that woman’,” he said. However, he admitted, “I’m guilty of rape.” He added that he should have left when he saw she was unconscious, and that it was cowardly of him not to have said anything.
Lionel R also tried to shift some of the blame on to Dominique Pélicot, telling the court he had done what the husband had told him to do. He said Pélicot’s explanations were “not very clear”, but he had believed he was simply participating in a game.
“There was talk of medical drugs. Sometimes of her taking them and sometimes of him administering them to her,” he said. “I didn’t ask myself too many questions,” he added.
He said: “I never imagined that she might not be part of this game. That was my first huge error.”
Dominique Pélicot has admitted the charges, telling the court he was “a rapist”. He has said the men he recruited online all knew they were coming to rape his unconscious, drugged wife.
A total of 50 men aged between 26 and 74 are accused of raping Gisèle Pélicot in her bedroom in southern France between 2011 and 2020 after being invited by her husband. The accused include a fire officer, prison warden, a nurse and a journalist.
Some men have admitted Pélicot told them he was drugging his then wife, while others claimed they believed they were participating in a couple’s organised game.
Pélicot told the court he regularly drugged his wife and contacted the men online.
The trial continues until December.