A FRENCHMAN accused of drugging his wife so that dozens of strangers could rape her was only exposed when he was arrested for upskirting women.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty following his trial at Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon.
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He and 51 other male defendants are charged with “aggravated rape” following multiple videoed attacks on Gisèle Pélicot, 72.
But the horrific case may never have come to light had Pélicot not been arrested in 2020 in a supermarket in Carpentras for filming up the skirts of other customers.
When police searched his camera phone, and equipment kept at his home, they found thousands of photos and videos of the abuse.
Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.
On Tuesday, it emerged that the couple’s child – Caroline Darian – was pictured with no clothes on, almost certainly while drugged.
Mr Pélicot kept the images in a computer file entitled “Around my daughter, naked,” the court heard.
When Presiding Judge Roger Arata began reading out details of the pictures, Ms Darian – who was in the public gallery – collapsed in tears, and had to leave the court building for around 20 minutes.
Ms Darian, now in her 40s, has already written a book about the case called “And I stopped calling you Daddy”, which the Judge quoted from in court.
She said she was “haunted by the fear” that her father may have invited men to rape her too, adding: “I’m convinced I was drugged, but he’ll never admit it.”
The family home, in Mazan, some 20 miles from Avignon, allegedly became a crime scene over at least a decade, when streams of men were invited to attack Ms Pélicot.
Her husband is said to have used an online libertine platform to contact them between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
They are all being tried alongside Mr Pélicot , a former employee at French utility company, EDF (Electricity of France).
One of 51 accused said he thought that the presence of cameras made the rapes legal, the court heard.
Judge Arata said the unnamed man told police: “It couldn’t have been anything bad because it was all filmed.”
Another defendant told detectives he thought Ms Pélicot was “play-acting at being asleep,” as part of a libertine fantasy.
“The victim was not asleep, but unconscious, which explains why the incident lasted so long,’ said the Judge.
Ms Pélicot, a frail mother-of-three, was supported by her two adult sons as she remained in the public gallery on Tuesday, the second day of the trial.
‘Monster of Avignon’: The case that shocked France
BY Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
FRENCH pensioner Dominique Pélicot is on trial accused of drugging his wife and allowing 72 strangers to rape her.
The 71-year-old allegedly invited the men he met online to assault his wife Gisele Pélicot, 72, after slipping Lorazepam into her food to knock her out.
He is said to have then filmed the horrid attacks over nine years between 2011 and 2020.
After being married for two years since meeting in 1971, the pair went on to have three children together.
When the family moved to Mazan two years later, the horrific campaign of alleged sexual abuse directed by Pélicot is believed to have started in 2011 while they were residing close to Paris.
Cops launched an investigation When a security officer discovered the pensioner secretly recording three women’s skirts in a shopping centre in September 2020.
On his computer, hundreds of images and videos of his wife—mostly in the foetal position and clearly unconscious—were discovered, according to the police.
The pictures allegedly depicted numerous rapes that took place at the couple’s house in Mazan, a 6,000-person hamlet in Provence some 20 miles from Avignon.
Investigators also discovered talks on a website called coco.fr, which the police have since taken down, where he allegedly invited strangers to his house so he could have sex with his wife.
Investigators were then informed by Pélicot that he had given his wife strong tranquillizers, including the anxiety-relieving medication Temesta.
Prosecutors claim that the husband participated in the rapes, recorded them, and used degrading language to encourage the other men.
He described at earlier hearings the many measures he used to keep his wife and family from learning of his terrible activities.
Dominique Pélicot is also accused of a 1991 murder and rape, both of which he denies, and a 1999 attempted rape, which he acknowledged following DNA testing.
Although examinations published in court documents reportedly found that the man had a need to feel ‘all-powerful’ over the female body, experts said the man did not appear to be mentally ill.
The shocking trial is due to last until December 20.
Pélicot was allegedly a multiple rapist who moved his family from greater Paris in 1991, and later allegedly set up the sex ring.
It involved advertising on a site for ‘partners’ on an online forum called ‘Without Her Knowing’.
Participants would discuss performing acts on unwitting partners, and then film their depravity, before storing the videos on a USB drive dubbed “Abuses”.
In Pélicot’s case, the data eventually fell into the hand of police, who confirmed it enabled them to identify the 92 cases of rape.
Of the 72 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.
Mr Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting tablets of Temesta – a powerful anxiolytic – into her evening dinner.
He then invited strangers from the online forum into the couple’s bedroom, so that his wife could be raped while unconscious.
All were told to wash their hands, and not to wear aftershave, so she would not sense they were strangers.
In a separate case, Mr Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing proved a case against him.
The Avignon aggravated rape case continues, and is due to last until December 21.
How you can get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
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