Trial of Monster of Avignon accused of 'drugging and letting strangers rape wife' at risk after defendant falls ill
11 September 2024, 20:45
The trial of a man who is accused of drugging his wife and inviting men to rape her was at risk of collapse after the defendant became too ill to attend court.
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Dominique Pelicot, 71, is accused of organising for strangers - aged between 26 and 74 - to come to his home in the French village of Mazan, near Avignon, to rape his wife, Gisele Pelicot, a court heard.
He is said to have filmed the assaults, which took place between 2011 and 2020 with prosecutors saying some 92 rapes took place, carried out by 72 men.
Pelicot is facing a jail sentence of up to 20 years, along with 50 other defendants, accused of the "aggravated rape" of Gisele Pelicot, also 71, over almost a decade.
However, the judge announced on Wednesday evening the defendant was so ill he would be unable to attend court until Monday at the earliest.
The testimony of the 71-year-old has twice been postponed this week after he was taken to hospital suffering a suspected bladder infection.
Judge Roger Arata said: "Mr Pelicot's health has deteriorated. He requires medical treatment and will be unable to attend court for the rest of this week.
"He will not return to court before Monday at the earliest."
Pelicot's lawyer Beatrice Zavarro called for a full medical examination, saying: "I met Mr Pelicot lying down in prison.
"He had vomited, had fainting spells, and had pain in his kidneys. Physically, he is here, but probably not in a fit state to take part in the proceedings in a calm manner."
Pecliot was briefly in attendance on Wednesday before Judge Arata called for him to leave, confirming he had been "suffering with pain" in his intestines first reported on Monday.
The court was told the trial would continue with evidence heard against other defendants for the rest of the day and on Thursday morning.
There was dissatisfaction in the court as Ms Zavarro insisted Pecliot's absence was not a "ploy".
She said: "Let's be clear about this. Mr Pelicot will not be avoiding his own trial.
"He will be here. He will reply to all the questions, but he can't control what happens to his body. He didn't plan to be ill. He is not a robot."
A prison psychologist previously told the court Pelicot had a "split personality", lacked empathy and inherited the temper of his father - who had been described as an violent abuser.
She also revealed Pelicot said the abuse would have continued if he had not been arrested - and complained that his life had been ruined by the criminal charges brought against him, according to the Mail Online.
Psychologist Marianne Douteau informed the court that her client expressed regret over his arrest, stating that the case had devastated his life.
He believed he and his wife could have maintained a happy marriage if his crimes had not been exposed. "
"He argued the criminal case has completely ruined his life."
"He claims everything could have continued as before if he had been arrested.
He said: "Gisele would not have known anything, we would have continued to be happy", she told the court.
Madame Douteau also told the court that informed the court of several significant events from Pelicot's childhood, revealing that in a detailed interview with her in February 2021, he disclosed being sexually assaulted by a hospital nurse at the age of nine.
Additionally, Pelicot's father, Denis, was described as a violent abuser who forced his son to work from the age of 14, taking 80 percent of his earnings.
The family also took in a young girl, whom Denis was reportedly abusive towards.
The psychologist concluded that Pelicot had inherited a personality similar to his father's—angry, stubborn, and impulsive.
She stated, "Dominique Pelicot comes from a deeply troubled family where young children were mistreated."
"[Pelicot] has a two-sided personality; he is a patriarch but he is also irresponsible and manipulative. Behind closed doors he does not respect limits.
"He has a split personality between the person he wants to be and the person he is.'He does not show any empathy - but he is not inauthentic [in his expressions of love for his wife],' she said.
The psychologist explained Pelicot admitted he was very sexually demanding and sought out sex on the internet.
He told her: 'I went on the internet every day, I was constantly on sites offering wife-swaps.
The psychologist said Madame Pelicot was cut off from her support network in Paris after the couple moved to the south of France in 2013 for their retirement,
It was at that point Dominique increased the abuse of his wife until his arrest in 2020.
Pelicot also told another psychologist who previously interviewed him that he had wanted to try swinging and she did not agree "so he drugged her".
Madame Montagne said Pelicot maintained he loved his wife, but added: "He sees his partner as an object to satisfy his sexual and narcissistic needs.
"His wife is then a partial object and no longer an object of total love."
The revelations were revealed before his two sons, David and Florian, who also took to the stand to give evidence against their father.
The other day, his daughter Caroline also took the stand describing her father as 'one of greatest sexual predators of all time'
However, Dominique Pelicot himself was excused from sitting through today's hearing after his lawyer told the judge he had "medical problems" in the past 48 hours for which he had not received "adequate treatment".
The trial started on Monday and is expected to run until December.
A security agent caught her husband taking photos of women's crotches in a supermarket, leading investigators to search Dominique Pelicot's phone and computer.
They found thousands of photographs and videos of men appearing to rape Ms Pelicot in their home while she appears to be unconscious.
'Unbearable'
Yesterday, Gisele Pelicot detailed to the court the horror of discovering that her former spouse systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men - storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.
"It's unbearable," she said. "I have so much to say that I don't always know where to start."
Shocked, she left her husband after police showed her some of the images.
"For me, everything collapses," she told the court.
"These are scenes of barbarity, of rape."
She left with two suitcases, "all that was left for me of 50 years of life together."
Since then, she said, "I no longer have an identity... I don't know if I'll ever rebuild myself."
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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.
