A woman who was allegedly repeatedly drugged and raped by her now-ex husband and dozens of men he invited into their home has told his trial that her world collapsed after she was “sacrificed on the altar of vice”.
Speaking in a calm and clear voice, Gisele Pelicot, 72, detailed to the court in the southern France city of Avignon the horror of discovering that Dominique Pelicot, 71, systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men while she was unconcious – storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.
“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice,” she testified. “They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag… I no longer have an identity. I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself.
“For me, everything collapses. These are scenes of barbarity, of rape.”
She told the court – having waived her right to anonymity – that she hopes her testimony might help spare other women from similar ordeals. She said she pushed for the trial in open court in solidarity with other women who go unrecognised as victims of sexual crimes.
“She knew nothing of what was inflicted on her. She had no memory of the rapes she suffered,” lawyer Antoine Camus told France Bleu radio.
Ms Pelicot only learned of the alleged rapes after her husband of 50 years was caught taking photos of women’s crotches in a supermarket in late 2020 – leading police to search his phone and computer hard drives.
Ms Pelicot thanked the lieutenant in the town of Carpentras who arrested her husband. “He saved my life and I probably wouldn’t be here without him,” she said.
She and her husband of 50 years had three children. When they retired, the couple moved into a house in a small town in Provence. “I thought we were a close couple,” she told the court.
She left her husband after police showed her some of the images documenting her alleged abuse, taking two suitcases. It was “all that was left for me of 50 years of life together”, she told the court.
Ms Pelicot told the court her daughter “screamed like a wild beast” when she heard the allegations.
“I will never forget this,” she said. “When I told my sons about this, I don’t think they really understood, they were withdrawn and didn’t react much. I think they were in a state of shock. They said don’t say such silly things.”
Police investigators found communications Dominique Pelicot allegedly sent on a messaging website commonly used by criminals, in which he invited men to sexually abuse his wife. The website has been shut down.
Because Dominique Pelicot videotaped the alleged rapes, police were able to track down – over a period of two years – a majority of the 72 suspects they were seeking.
As well as Pelicot, whose lawyer has said he “always declared himself guilty”, 50 other men, aged 22 to 70, are standing trial. Several defendants are denying some of the accusations against them, alleging they were manipulated by Pelicot. The defendants face 20 years in prison if convicted of aggravated rape.
Details of the alleged abuses, which investigators said began in 2011 and continued for a decade have emerged during the trial, which began on Monday.
During questioning earlier, Pelicot told investigators that men invited to the couple’s home had to follow certain rules – they could not talk loudly, had to remove their clothes in the kitchen, could not wear perfume nor smell of tobacco.
Over the next few months, the defendants will appear in small groups before a panel of five judges, with Dominique Pelicot scheduled to speak next week.
The trial continues and is expected to last until December.