A horrific video showing Dominque Pelicot raping his drugged wife has been played for the first time to a court in Avignon, where he is standing trial alongside dozens of other men accused of joining him in vile attacks over the course of ten years.
The 71-year-old, who has been dubbed the Monster of Avignon, is seen violently assaulting his unconscious wife Gisele in the 17-minute footage, which he filmed and kept in a file labelled ‘Abuse’ along with tens of thousands of pictures and videos.
A man, named only as Didier S, is seen with him in the clip, which was filmed in January 2019 at the Pelicots’ retirement chalet in Mazan, southern France.
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.
The defendant, who says he is homosexual, claimed in court yesterday 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 shows 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 yesterday
Pelicot delighted in watching strangers abuse his wife and made home movies and took pictures
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
At one point, Pelicot is said to order him to be silent with a ‘shush’, putting a finger in up to his mouth.
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 Pelicot’s marital bed two years earlier.
Speaking in court yesterday, 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 yesterday.
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 meet with Pelicot.
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)
He claims 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 are also said to show Pelicot performing a sex act on Patrick A. However, he claims 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 in court yesterday.
People take part in a march in support of rape victim, Gisele Pelicot, on October 05, 2024 in Mazan, France
A woman holds a placard reading: ‘Victim we believe you rapist we see you’, during a silent march to support Gisele Pelicot
The trial continues, with 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.
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.
Gisele Pelicot, 71, has bravely waived her right to anonymity to unmask the alleged perpetrators in a case that has shocked the world
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 revealing the thousands of photos of his wife.
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.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk