Australian supporters gift Gisele Pelicot Aboriginal Print Scarf in solidarity in rape case against alleged abusers

WARNING: Details in this story may be disturbing to some readers.

Gisele Pelicot, the woman who won global support after publicly condemning her husband’s 10-year drug and rape campaign with dozens of men, wore a scarf in court featuring Aboriginal artwork sent to her by Australian supporters.

Ms Pelicot, 71, who was donated by a group advocating the rights of older women, wore a scarf on Wednesday local time as the trial of 51 men accused of sexually assaulting her in the southern French city of Avignon approached its halfway mark. .

Yumi Lee, chief executive of the NSW Older Women’s Network, raised funds to purchase the scarf through a social media appeal on the network’s Facebook page.

Ms Lee told the ABC she sent this message “on behalf of all women who wish to express their solidarity”.

“Because we can’t be in court, we can’t stand there with our banners, so we wanted to send her a gift that she could wear to know that women all over the world were thinking of her and cheering her on.”

The silk scarf was printed with a design by Mulyatingki Marney, a Martu woman from the Punmu community in Western Australia.

The painting depicts a group of saltwater pools at Wilarra, near Ms. Marney’s home, known for their healing properties and home to a family of dingoes watched over by the Moon.

The case of Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, became known worldwide after the trial began with allegations that he repeatedly drugged her and organized dozens of men to come to their Mazan home and rape her as she lay unconscious.

In her often harrowing testimonies, Pelicot said she wanted to remove the stigma of sexual assault from victims and instead shame perpetrators into “switching sides.”

Ms Lee said she was following the case along with many other women in the network who work to support the rights and dignity of older women, and wanted to do something to empower Ms Pelicot.

Ms Lee enclosed a letter to Ms Pelicot, which included the scarf, describing the love and solidarity of Australian women and others around the world; This letter told her to “imagine yourself wrapped in the love of old women Down Under” while wearing the scarf.

The organization runs a project running body mapping workshops across Australia, as well as developing training resources for frontline workers to better respond to and engage with older women who disclose they have been sexually assaulted.

“It was very clear that many older women were carrying trauma, and that included sexual assaults from childhood to adolescence, on young women, etc.,” Ms Lee said.

“Older women really understand the trauma of what they’ve been through,” she continued, saying Ms Pelicot’s pain was on an “unprecedented scale”.

She had sent the scarf via courier to Ms. Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, in her office in Paris.

“We didn’t have an address… so we Googled it. That’s the wonder of Google,” he said.

“He gave her the scarf and told us that he was really interested in the connection to First Nations culture and that he was going to wear it in court this week.”

Ms. Pelicot received worldwide support for choosing to remain anonymous as a victim; This means her husband and 50 other defendants in the rape case will be subject to a public hearing.

Mr Pelicot pleaded guilty along with several other defendants and asked for clemency in September, telling the court: “I am a rapist.”

The decision in the case is expected to be given in December.

ABC/AFP