The Monster of Avignon covered his eyes as his former wife bravely watched on through agonising footage showed in court purportedly showed him help others rape her while she was unconscious.
Films shown in the French court in Avignon today showed Gisele Pélicot, now 71, lying on her side with her eyes closed and snoring while allegedly being abused by former pastry chef, Jean Tirano, 52.
Tirano is one of 50 men accused of abusing Ms Pélicot while she slept during a vicious campaign of abuse orchestrated by her then-husband, Dominique Pélicot. Mr Pélicot has since admitted to sedating his wife and inviting others over to abuse her.
The case has caused outrage in France and sparked massive demonstrations in her support. Today, she bravely asked that members of the public be able to attend court sessions to bear witnesses to the horrors she suffered.
Today, for the first time, ordinary members of the public witnessed videos and footage prosecutors say showed Ms Pélicot being attacked by several men as she lay unconscious.
Gisele Pelicot arriving at court The Mazan rape case on October 4, 2024
Dominique Pelicot is accused of allowing multiple men to rape his wife while she was sedated
Dominique Pelicot, the so-called, Monster of Avignon, arriving at court for the trial
Jean Tirano appears at court for the trial on October 3
Simone Mekenese appears at court for the trial on October 3
Harrowing footage of the rape and sexual abuse of the grandmother by strangers, filmed by her husband, was played to the French court today, in front of Mr and Ms Pélicot.
Courageous Ms Pélicothad already waived her right to anonymity to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse against women.
This morning her lawyers called on the judge sitting at the Vaucluse Criminal Court to allow members of the public to be allowed to watch the footage for the first time.
Retired electrician Dominique Pélicot, 71, has admitted to his part in the case in which 50 men are accused of being accomplices to this mass rape over a decade.
Most of his alleged accomplices deny charges of rape and claim they were ‘tricked’ by Mr Pélicot, who allegedly told them his wife had agreed to take part in a sex game in which she pretended to be asleep during the sex.
Lawyers representing the accused called on Judge Roger Arata to restrict the viewing of the footage to parties involved the case, claiming the trial was at risk of being ‘hysterical’.
Calling for the hearing to be private, out-spoken lawyer Nadia El Bouroumi, said: ‘The right to a fair trial means equality for all parties.
‘We do not have equality. We are in the centre of a media storm.’
However, Antoine Camus, representing Ms Pélicot, told the court: ‘In most rape cases it is one person’s word against another.
‘Here, there is only the word of the defendants, and not that of Gisele Pélicot [because she was unconscious].
‘But [in the footage] we have sound and images which make the theory of accidental rape collapse. What they show is rape by opportunity.
‘It only when the footage is seen in their totality can we measure the contribution of each of the accused to this monstrosity, this evil that lasted for ten years to Gisele Pélicot.’
The white-haired judge ruled that the footage could be shown both in the court room, where accredited members of the press are present, and broadcast to an annex room where up to 50 members of the public can follow proceedings.
Before the films were played Judge Arata warned the audience: ‘I would like to inform members of the public that the videos were are going to view are degrading and against human dignity. I ask anyone under the age of 18 to leave the room.’
The films and photographs showed in graphic details of how Ms Pélicot was clearly unconscious while she was raped by seven of her ex-husband’s co-defendants.
Redouane El Farihi, 55, – who yesterday vigorously protested his innocence – allegedly assaulted her in a video as she lay motionless
Thierry Postat was seen straddling Ms Pélicot and forcing her mouth open while she snored
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over 10yrs
Defendant Dominique Pélicot, 71, testifies in court on September 17, in a court sketch
Gisele Pelicot’s daughter Caroline Darian arrives flanked by her mother Gisele Pelicot at the Avignon courthouse on September 17
Ms Pélicot sat stoically in the court as the footage was shown. Her ex-husband sat across the court from her with his hands shielding his eyes.
The first two films showed Ms Pélicot lying on her side with her eyes closed and clearly snoring while she was allegedly abused by former pastry chef Jean Tirano, 52.
Next Thierry Postat, 61, could allegedly be seen forcing himself on the grandmother while she lay snoring.
Then Moroccan-born hospital nurse Redouane El Farihi, 55, – who yesterday vigorously protested his innocence – allegedly assaulted her in a video as she lay motionless.
Another film allegedly showed Pélicot assisting his neighbour, former soldier Simone Mekenes, to assault his wife while she snores.
Thierry Postat, a builder, was seen straddling Ms Pélicot and forcing her mouth open while she snored.
And finally self-confessed ‘woman hater’ Adrien Longeron, the son of a wealthy businessman, then 24, allegedly abused the sleeping grandmother in another clip.
All six men deny rape.
Among the seven defendants to give evidence this week, only Jerome Vilela, 46, described by a court-appointed psychologist as a sex addict, who visited Mr Pélicot’s house six times to rape his wife, has pleaded guilty.
Defendants have given a number of explanations against the line taken by the prosecution.
One married father accused of raping Ms Pélicot admitted having sex with Ms Pélicot previously but denied rape.
Andy Rodriguez, like many of the other defendants, are claiming they had no idea she was drugged and assumed it was all part of a ‘consenting scenario’ between Mr Pélicot and his then wife.
He said he only went to the Mazan home because there was nothing else to do one New Year’s Eve.
Husamettin Dogan said last month he also thought it was part of an elaborate sex game.
He denied the charge of rape and said he had sex with her in spite of the fact she ‘looked dead’. He said he left after about half an hour when her snoring became loud.
Mr Pélicot made the stark admission last month that he invited dozens of men to have sex with his wife because he was bored in retirement.
In his first testimony after a period of absence from court due to illness, he claimed he had begun inviting strangers, some with venereal diseases, to their home to assault his wife as she slept because he was ‘utterly idle’ in retirement.
The 71-year-old also told judges he and some 51 men alleged to have taken part in the rape of Gisèle Pélicot were indeed culpable, before trying to explain his actions with accounts of abuse in his childhood.
Ms Pélicot was given a rousing applause from members of the public as she walked into the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon this morning.
By contrast, Mr Pelicot tried to hide his face as he was driven into the court compound in a marked prison van in handcuffs and flanked by gaolers.
The events – described by Mr Pélicot’s daughter as the France ‘worst sex case for 20 years – have caused huge public outcry with demonstrations held across the country.
A march will be held tomorrow in Mazan, the picturesque village in the shadow of Mont Ventoux in the south of France where the rapes occurred, in support of Ms Pélicot and other victims of sexual violence.
Gisele Pelicot arriving at court on October 3 as suspects charged with rape stood trial
Swiss opera singer Rose Marie Denise Doblies sings inside the hall of the court to show her support to Gisele Pelicot on Thursday
Footage has emerged showing Dominique Pélicot – dubbed the ‘Monster of Avignon’ – being caught by supermarket security guards ‘upskirting’ female shoppers. The caption reads: ‘We were following him on camera, that’s four times!’
Mr Pélicot depicted appearing at the courthouse in Avignon on September 11
Abuse took place in the town of Mazan, south of France, and was only uncovered after the man was caught up-skirting women in a local supermarket, prompting officers to search his home
However, the 71-year-old will not attend as she has vowed to never return to the village where she suffered this unimaginable betrayal.
The abuse only came to an end after Mr Pélicot was arrested for taking pictures up women’s skirts at a local supermarket in November 2019.
Pélicot has been on remand since 2020, when he was first arrested on suspicion of gassing and then raping Ms Pélicot, while inviting men he contacted online to do the same.
A search of his home revealed some 20,000 images and films of the systematic rape of his wife by strangers he had met on the internet, stored on a computer file entitled ‘abuse’.
The trial has been adjourned until Monday.