A French court today discovered how a drugged and sleeping Gisele Pelicot was filmed being brutally raped for 37 minutes by a man previously jailed for sexually abusing his own teenage daughter.
It is the latest horrific twist in the trial of 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot – who admits to waging a decade-long campaign of sordid abuse on his wife – along with 50 other men who are accused of raping her while she lay unconscious.
Seven of his co-accused are on trial in the court in Avignon this week, one of whom featured in the gruesome 37-minute-long clip of abuse filmed on the night of May 6, 2019.
The man in question is reported to have told investigators that the experience was ‘like making love to a corpse’, but said he was innocent of rape because the presence of Gisele’s husband – who filmed the ordeal – ‘implied consent’.
It transpired in court that the accused, a Moroccan man now aged 70, had a string of prior convictions and in 1999 was condemned to five years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter, who was aged just 14 at the time.
The man reportedly suffered through an abusive childhood and is an impulsive drug user according to psychologists.
He also described himself as ‘psychologically handicapped’ and claimed that he was manipulated by Mr Pelicot.
Gisele Pelicot arrives at the Avignon courthouse for the trial of her former partner Dominique Pelicot accused of drugging her for nearly ten years and inviting strangers to rape her at their home in Mazan, a small town in the south of France, in Avignon
Gisele Pelicot arrives with her lawyer Antoine Camus at the Avignon courthouse
Dominique Pelicot delighted in watching strangers abuse his wife. He repeatedly drugged his spouse and invited strangers he met on the Internet to their family home to abuse her while he made home movies and took pictures
This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Gisele Pelicot, left, and her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, right, during his trial, at the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France
Not only does the man deny raping Gisele, but he still maintains his innocence in the case involving his daughter.
France’s BFMTV reported that the accused claimed his conviction came as the result of a ‘trap’ set by his former partner and his children, even after a bid to have the sentence overturned was rejected.
Today’s revelation comes just days after a horrific video showing Mr Pelicot raping his drugged wife was played for the first time to the Avignon court.
The 71-year-old, who has been dubbed the Monster of Avignon, was seen violently assaulting his unconscious wife in the 17-minute footage, which he filmed and kept in a file labelled ‘Abuse’ along with tens of thousands of pictures and videos.
Like many of his co-accused, the 68-year-old is said to have travelled to Pelicot’s home after meeting him on the now-closed website coco.fr.
A man, named only as Didier S, was seen with him in the clip, which was filmed in January 2019 at the Pelicots’ retirement chalet in Mazan, southern France.
The defendant, who says he is homosexual, claimed in court last Thursday that he had only wanted to have sex with a man, and did not know about Mrs Pelicot’s presence until he arrived at the house.
But the shocking footage reportedly showed Didier S going along with Pelicot’s instructions regardless, performing oral sex on him and leaving the room when asked.
Gisele Pelicot arrives with her lawyer Antoine Camus (right) at the Avignon courthouse
Mr Pélicot depicted appearing at the courthouse in Avignon on September 11
The Pelicot home in the village of Mazan, now known as the house of horrors
The video was filmed in a fixed shot from a shelf, with the gruesome scenes among a stash of 20,000 images kept by Pelicot and uncovered by police in 2020.
Investigators combed through the footage and identified 50 out of the 83 that appeared in the depraved images.
Father-of-two Didier S was identified in Pelicot’s files and brought into police custody on March 23, 2021.
‘What a bastard! I didn’t think it was a trap,’ Didier S is reported to have said during interrogation after being shown pictures of him in the Pelicots’ marital bed two years earlier.
Speaking in court, Didier S said: ‘I got caught up in this thing, I don’t know why I didn’t leave.’
‘Maybe because you were expecting something more?’ the attorney general asked.
‘Yes, between Dominique Pelicot and me,’ he replied. ‘In the end, I don’t even know why he called me in since I couldn’t do anything,’ he added. ‘And I got nothing.’
Another of the accused, 60-year-old Patrick A, also spoke.
Mr Pelicot is said to have invited him to his home with the message: ‘I am looking for a perverted accomplice to abuse my sleeping little wife. A beautiful prudish slut who does not want a threesome.’
The defendant, who identifies as homosexual, claimed that he only went to the house in March 2018 to meet with Mr Pelicot for sex.
Abuse took place in the town of Mazan, south of France, and was only uncovered after the man was caught up-skirting women in a local supermarket, prompting officers to search his home
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over 10years
Dominique Pelicot, who has allegedly drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot, appears during his trial on September 17 (right)
People take part in a march in support of rape victim, Gisele Pelicot, on October 05, 2024 in Mazan, France
He claimed Pelicot dragged him into the bedroom where his sleeping wife was. ‘He said he needed that to excite her. And this man is very persuasive,’ he reportedly said.
Patrick A obeyed Pelicot’s orders and abused his wife, saying: ‘I did it reluctantly. I got taken in. I had this thing of telling myself: after this, it will be the two of us’.
‘I was blinded. I wanted him too much’, he added.
Pictures were also said to show Pelicot performing a sex act on Patrick A. However, he claimed that he had a ‘blackout’ during part of the meeting, and that he did not remember getting home.
‘The more it goes on, the more I think I was drugged,’ he claimed.
The trial is set to continue until December, with yet more footage of the horrific assaults on Gisele Pelicot set to be shown.
The mother-of-three, 71, has bravely waived her right to anonymity to unmask the alleged perpetrators in a case that has shocked the world.
A woman holds a placard reading: ‘Victim we believe you rapist we see you’, during a silent march to support Gisele Pelicot
Gisele Pelicot, 71, has bravely waived her right to anonymity to unmask the alleged perpetrators in a case that has shocked the world
Over the past four weeks, French people have come out to support her in their droves, with many organising protests up and down the country.
One was held in Mazan, where most of the attacks took place, with hundreds marching through the sleepy Provence town to show their support of her.
The trial in Avignon has heard man after man claim that Pelicot had ‘tricked’ them into taking part in his twisted fantasies of the rape and humiliation of his wife – many of which were filmed.
Pelicot delighted in watching strangers abuse his wife and made home movies and took pictures.
They were only discovered when he was caught in September 2020 upskirting women at a local supermarket, with a subsequent police search of his home unearthing a catalogue of thousands of photos and videos of his wife being abused.
Last month, Pelicot stood in the dock and admitted his guilt – and accused all his co-defendants of each having been willing conspirators.
He told the court: ‘I am a rapist – like everyone else in this room.’
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