Spouses Reacted Shocked While 50 Men Were Tried in Mass Rape Case in France

Avignon:

Wives and girlfriends of dozens of men accused of raping another woman in France while she was drugged by her husband reacted with anger and disbelief, but some said they would side with the accused.

In a case that shocked France, 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot admitted giving his then-wife Gisele tranquilizers so strangers could sexually assault her in her bed for almost a decade until 2020.

Fifty men, aged between 26 and 74, are also on trial in the southern city of Avignon, accused of responding to an invitation to rape her.

Some of them, including Pelicot, are in custody and one is being tried in absentia, but 32 of the defendants are attending the hearing freely.

Vanessa P., one of the women who testified at the hearing, said that she no longer respected her former partner Quentin H. (34), who was a guard for allegedly harassing Gisele Pelicot.

The child care worker accused him of being “manipulative” and said: “When you see what they’re accusing him of, you start to doubt everything.”

Emilie O., 33, described her former partner Hugues M., 39, who was accused of “attempted rape” at the hearing, in a similar way.

“I thought I was living a peaceful and fulfilling life, but I was wrong,” she said, adding that she, too, would always be afraid of being raped.

Emilie O. split from her partner in 2020 after police uncovered years of harassment of Gisele Pelicot and discovered Hugues M. had multiple affairs.

‘He was always respectful’

Gisele Pelicot, now 71, has become a feminist icon both at home and abroad since the trial began in September; He refuses to be embarrassed and demands that the hearing be open to the public.

Like him, Cilia M. was also drugged and raped.

Her husband, Jean-Pierre M., 63, is the only defendant not accused of abusing Gisele Pelicot at the trial.

Instead, he and Dominique Pelicot were accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Cilia M. repeatedly using the same method between 2015 and 2018.

“He was a wonderful person, but he destroyed us,” said the mother of five children, one of whom is disabled.

Cilia M. told the court she would “never forgive” her husband, who claimed his own father sexually abused her as a child.

She has since broken up with him but did not press charges to “protect” her children.

Corinne M. had already separated from her husband, former builder Thierry P. (54), when the Pelicot case came to light, after the death of their son in a car accident pushed her to become an alcoholic.

He was confused by her behavior.

“He was always respectful. When it was no, it was no… I really don’t understand why he’s here today,” she said at the hearing, when it came to sex.

Veronique Le Goaziou, a sociologist specializing in sexual abuse, told AFP that defendants’ partners were often “stunned”.

He said they often have difficulty imagining the alleged violence because it “goes beyond their understanding.”

“In some cases… they can’t or won’t believe it.”

‘This is not him’

Samira T. said she was still trying to understand why her partner, Jerome V., raped Gisele Pelicot six times in 2020 at their home in the southern town of Mazan.

But he would be there for her to “support” her.

“It’s not a coincidence that we met,” he said. “This task was given to me.”

Jerome V., a 46-year-old former minimart worker who claimed to have slept with 89 people, told the court that he could not control his sexuality.

Samira T. said that she tried to satisfy her high libido, complying with his desires for sex almost every day “at 10 o’clock at night”, and agreeing to be photographed naked or go for a walk naked.

“He had no reason to go look anywhere else,” she said, tearfully.

Another woman, Hien B., blamed herself.

During a time when she was caring for her sick mother, Jean-Luc L. repeatedly brushed her off when she asked for sex.

“I think he decided to go somewhere else as a man,” he said.

Sonia R., one of the defendant’s associates in Avignon, has been dating Patrice N. for over a year.

He said he wanted to look to the future with hope.

“I support him and trust him with all my heart,” he said.

Lucie B. also stood by Gregory S., her partner of seven years. She is pregnant with their third child.

“I don’t see him as a rapist. He’s not,” she said.

She said after they met in 2017, he told her about visiting Pelicot’s home earlier that year.

“He told me that getting drunk was a husband and his wife’s idea of ​​fun,” she added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is syndicated.)