Graphic images of the rape of Gisele Pelicot were shown to the courtroom in Avignon as she bravely took the stand in a trial that continues to rock France.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, had testified on Tuesday that he had drugged and raped his wife, and accused the dozens of men facing charges alongside him of active involvement and complicity.
Lawyers argued on Wednesday that showing images of abuse extracted from his hard-drive would be ‘useful in revealing the truth’. Ms Pelicot’s daughter Caroline Darian left the courtroom at her mother’s request before the images could be shown.
Twenty-seven unsettling images were shown in silence yesterday, reportedly including Ms Pelicot naked and conscious, in ‘lewd’ positions, and of her crotch.
She told the court she had no memory of the photos being taken, and argued that ‘they’re trying to trap me with these photos… to show that I baited these individuals into my home and that I was consenting.’
Defendants have since insisted that they were unaware of the plot to sedate and rape Ms Pelicot, one claiming they had seen photos of her naked and conscious in the garden – which they inferred meant ‘she was in agreement’.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, arrives at court in Avignon, France, this morning
Lionel Rodriguez, 43, took the stand charged with raping Gisele Pelicot (pictured this morning with her lawyer outside court)
Lionel Rodriguez, seen in this court sketch, is accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while she was unconscious
An artist’s impression of first defendant taking the stand on Thursday
Caroline Darian left the courtroom at her mother’s request (pictured on Tuesday)
Gisele Pelicot pictured in a sketch with her daughter and lawyer in court yesterday
Isabelle Crépin-Dehaene, defence attorney, argued that graphic photos showed Ms Pelicot ‘awake’ and ‘smiling’.
‘Not all women would accept this type of photo. They show that there was a request from the husband that the wife was perfectly aware of.
‘I deduce that the Pelicot couple played a sexual game of their own.’
Lionel Rodriguez, 43, was among those to take the stand on Thursday charged with raping Gisele Pelicot while she was in a state of semi consciousness.
He claimed that he believed Gisele was involved in a ‘game’ of sorts, telling the court: ‘It was my biggest mistake from the start not to have asked to speak to Gisele but it seemed impossible to me that she was not in the game.
‘Pelicot sent me pictures of Gisele naked in the garden, but she was awake, and it made me think she was in agreement.’
Rodriguez said his wife had left him after news of his involvement in the case broke and he then turned to Ms Pelicot, 71, to apologise to her for his actions.
Dressed in a black bomber jacket and dark jeans Rodriguez said: ‘I never wanted to hurt you but I did, I want to ask for forgiveness.
‘I can imagine your nightmare, it’s horrible to think I am part of this nightmare. My apologies will not change anything, but I wanted to tell you.’
Ms Pelicot, who has waived her right to anonymity, simply stared at him and remained emotionless as she sat just feet away from him.
Rodriguez met Pelicot through a now closed forum called Coco.fr and the two men exchanged messages over a period of time in 2018.
Lawyers for Rodriguez and the others are claiming the men were under the impression Ms Pelicot was complicit, a willing participant and they were duped.
Rodriguez told the court that when he arrived Ms Pelicot was naked on a bed and appeared to be asleep.
He went: ‘Pelicot told me to lie down next to her and I caressed her, I penetrated her but during the act I slipped and he made me leave the room.’
A 72-year-old retired marine firefighter – the oldest of 50 men accused of raping the wife of the Monster of Avignon – also gave his testimony on Thursday.
Grandfather Jacques Cubeau denies raping Dominque Pelicot’s wife Gisele, who has waived her right to anonymity in a trial which has grabbed worldwide headlines.
And just like Lionel Rodriguez before him – he offered his apologies to her and said: ‘Madam, when I discovered what you had suffered, I was devastated.
‘Having participated in all of this destroyed me. I hope that you, your family, will overcome all of this.’
Cubeau told the court he was bisexual and had a ‘libertine attitude’ towards sex but had not had a partner since being freed from custody in 2022 following his arrest.
When asked by the prosecutor what relationship he had with his children, Cubeau replied: ‘Excellent.’
When it was pointed out they had refused to appear as his witnesses, Cubeau said: ‘I got myself into this, it’s up to me to answer for it.’
However, he said he believed it was a ‘scenario set up by the couple’ and when he arrived he found Ms Pelicot asleep ‘with her mouth open’.
Cubeau said: ‘When we first spoke, he very quickly said to me ‘My wife takes sleeping pills in the evening and when she is asleep, men come’ .
‘I think it’s a fantasy of theirs, but he asks me to come over, I get the idea that it’s a shy woman in a swinging couple.’
He admitted he had ‘performed oral sex’ on Ms Pelicot but didn’t use his tongue.
He said he had ‘merely kissed’ her in an intimate area, and claimed that it did not count as ‘penetrative sex’, adding that she had ‘kept her underwear on’
During police interviews Cubeau insisted he did not have penetrative sex with Ms Pelicot and to gasps carried on his denials in court.
He added that he had then given Mr Pelicot oral sex before he left the room as Mrs Pelicot had ‘begun to stir’.
He added: ‘Dominique threw me a pair of her knickers to keep as a souvenir. When I left, I did think about making a report but then life carried on as normal.’
Under cross examination he was asked: ‘How did you think you would give pleasure to s sleeping woman ? You were 70 years old.’
He replied: ‘I thought she would wake up.’
Later, after a short break, the judge announced videos of Cubeau with Mrs Pelicot would be played in court and he again called for an adjoining room to be cleared of the general public.
Ordering a file called ‘Abuse’ to be played from February 2020, three short clips were played which showed Cubeau performing a sex act on an intimate part of Mrs Pelicot’s body.
As they were screened Cubeau remained open mouthed in shock, while Mrs Pelicot looked away.
Mr Pelicot gave his much-awaited testimony earlier this week after a period of absence
This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Gisele Pelicot, left, and her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, right, during his trial, at the Avignon court house, in Avignon on Tuesday
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over 10yrs
Mrs Pelicot’s husband, Dominique, has been called ‘the Monster of Avignon’ since he admitted to drugging his wife and allowing 82 strangers to rape her in their martial bed.
Pelicot had met the men online and shared his vile sexual fantasies online before inviting them to his family home to rape his wife of more than 40 years.
Police were able to look at the footage of the attacks recorded by Pelicot and kept on his computer and identify 50 suspects. A further 32 strangers who raped Mrs Pelicot remain unidentified.
Eventually Pelicot suggested he come to his home in Mazan near Avignon in southern France so he could sleep with Gisele.
Rodriguez said: ‘He talked about pills, but it wasn’t clear if he was giving them to her or she was taking them.’
Pelicot is accused of drugging his wife over a ten-year period and allowing the 50 men charged to rape her while he filmed the abuse.
Pelicot spoke in court earlier his week and admitted he ‘was a rapist’ and has insisted his wife was not part of the plan.
Police first arrested him in September 2020 for secretly filming up women’s’ skirts in a supermarket in nearby Carpentras.
His devices were searched and hundreds of pornographic videos and pictures were found.
It was while in custody that Pelicot reported to them there was a hard drive called ‘Abuse’ and on it there were 3,800 photos and videos of his wife being raped between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men of whom 51 have been identified aged between 26 and 73 years old.
Eighteen are in custody and are in court in a reinforced cage while the others – including Rodriguez – are on bail and enter and leave the building wearing masks and hoodies to avoid being recognised.
Pelicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta into her evening meal and alleged attackers include civil servants, a journalist, prison guards, a retired firefighter, a councillor and truck drivers.
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
Mr Pélicot depicted appearing at the courthouse in Avignon on September 11
In a separate case, Pelicot has been charged with raping and murder of a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
The former electrician – who is sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by prison guards for the hearing in Avignon which started earlier this month – has also admitted one rape in 1999, after DNA testing linked him to the attack.
The case is expected to last until December and fourteen of the defendants have admitted rape whilst the rest deny any wrong doing.