Gisèle Pelicot, who was drugged and raped by her ex-husband, is not the only woman in France in this situation. In the Proceedings against her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, the first of the 50 co-defendants, testified on Wednesday. 63-year-old Jean-Pierre M. had abused his own wife in the same way as the main defendant had abused Gisèle Pelicot – and this on his instructions and with his involvement.
“What I have done is terrible. I expect a severe punishment“, said Jean-Pierre M. “I am a criminal and a rapist,” he added. He is suspected of having drugged his wife with a sleeping pill given to him by Dominique Pelicot between 2015 and 2018, in order to then rape her together with Pelicot.
The two met on an internet forum called “Without Her Knowledge,” M. said. Pelicot first suggested raping his wife Gisèle, but he refused. He then tried Pelicot’s method with him on his own wife. However, she woke up several times and noticed Pelicot.
Investigators have identified at least twelve rape cases, most of which were filmed, and Pelicot is said to have been involved in ten of them.
“If I hadn’t met Mr. Pelicot, this wouldn’t have happened,” M. said in court. Pelicot reminded him of his father, he added. M. then described numerous sexual cruelties committed by his father. He forced him to perform oral sex and abuse his sister during his childhood. “We experienced terrible things with my father,” he said.
His wife Cilia M. had already stated last week that she had not filed a lawsuit against her husband “to protect our five children.” “It is unbelievable what he did, he was such a wonderful man,” she said. She would “never forgive him.”
Gisèle Pelicot was again greeted with applause in the courthouse on Wednesday. The 72-year-old has now become a feminist icon in France. She explicitly called for the trial not to be held behind closed doors, “so that shame changes sides.” (AFP)
