'I'm completely destroyed': Gisele Pelicot takes the stand for first time in France mass rape trial
23 October 2024, 13:37
Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman whose husband is on trial for drugging and raping her, took the stand on Wednesday.
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Speaking in court, she shared a message to women who have been the victim of rape and sexual assault, saying: “It's not for us to have shame - it's for them".
Dominique Pelicot, 71, is accused of organising online strangers, aged between 26 and 74, to come to his home in the southern French village of Mazan to rape his wife.
Prosecutors said some 92 rapes took place, carried out by 72 men.
A total of 51 men are on trial and are being tried alongside Pelicot, who is a former employee of EDF, France's state-owned electricity company.
Referring to her decision to demand an open trial, Ms Pelicot said: "I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. I don't want them to be ashamed any longer."
Ms Pelicot said she has seen wives, mothers and sisters of the defendants come out in support of them, with some describing them as “exceptional men.”
"That's just like who I had back home," she continued.
"But a rapist is not just someone you meet in a dark car park late at night. He can also be found in the family, among friends."
She told the court her life had been "completely destroyed" and said "I don't know if my whole life will be enough to understand.”
Addressing her ex-husband, she said: "I wish I could still call him Dominique. We lived together for 50 years, I was a happy, fulfilled woman."
"You were a caring, attentive husband, and I never doubted you. We shared laughter and tears," she added.
Pelicot's alleged crimes first came to light when he was caught upskirting women at a shopping centre.
Police said they checked his computer and found hundreds of pictures and videos of his wife being assaulted, while clearly unconscious.
Officers also said they found an online chat where Pelicot invited the strangers to his house to take part in the assaults.
Prosecutors have claimed that the abuse started when the couple lived in Paris, and continued when they moved to Mazan, a village in south-east France.
Pelicot took part in the rapes and encouraged the other men using degrading language, prosecutors said. No money was involved in the arrangement.
The men accused of taking part in the mass rapes include a journalist, a forklift truck driver and a firefighter. They ran the gamut from single to married to divorced.
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.
Besides Pelicot, 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.
Over the next few months, the defendants will appear in small groups before a panel of five judges, with Pelicot scheduled to speak next week.
Psychologists, psychiatrists and computer experts will also give evidence.
