The trial of a man in France who drugged his wife and invited dozens of men to rape her for over a decade was dramatically put in jeopardy this morning when he was rushed to hospital for urgent treatment for an unexplained abdominal pain.
Judge Roger Arata announced that the defendant, Dominique Pelicot, 71, was receiving medical care after he was expected to give evidence today in the sex trial that has shocked France.
The retired electrician has admitted to putting powerful sedatives in his wife Gisèle’s evening meal and rose wine over almost a decade in order to render her unconscious.
Some 84 men he had met in a notorious internet chatroom then took turns to sneak into their modest chalet in a village near Avignon to rape her in the marital bed.
Police also found sickening pictures of his daughter Caroline and two daughters-in-laws in a haul some 200,000 images and videos that he kept of the on a computer file titled ‘abuse’.
Gisele Pelicot who has allegedly been drugged and raped by men solicited by her husband Dominique Pelicot, walks into the courthouse in Avignon, France, September 10
Madame Pelicot, 72, was supported by her children Florian (far left) David (far right). The sons will take to the stand today
Pelicot’s daughter Caroline arrived at the Avignon court this morning to support her mother
Dominique Pelicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over a 10 year period
But Pelicot, seemingly a doting husband and dedicated father of three who had moved to the south of France for his retirement, blames his wife and the police for ruining his idyllic life in Provence.
He told psychologists that his wife was to blame for his actions because she refused to go swinging with him.
Psychologist Annabelle Montagne told the court in Avignon yesterday morning that she interviewed Pelicot in December 2020 – a month and a half after he was taken into custody – where he admitted to carrying out the campaign of abuse of his wife Gisele.
‘Pelicot said: ”My wife and I had a discussion about swinging but she didn’t agree so I drugged her”,’ the psychologist recounted.
Madame Montagne said Pelicot maintained he loved his wife, but she 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.’
It comes as another prison psychologist yesterday told the court that Pelicot had a ‘split personality’, lacked empathy and inherited the temper of his father, who was said to be a violent abuser.
During interviews following his arrest in September 2020 Pelicot maintained that the sickening abuse of his wife of 50 years Gisele would have continued if he had not been arrested.
Psychologist Marianne Douteau yesterday told the court how her client lamented his arrest, complaining that the case against him had ruined his life and that he and his wife could have continued in a happy marriage had his misdeeds not been discovered. ‘(Pelicot) complains that this criminal case against him has destroyed 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’.’
Mr Pelicot admitted to putting powerful sedatives in his wife Gisèle’s evening meal and rose wine over almost a decade in order to render her unconscious.
Florian, Madame Pelicot’s son is set to take the stand today
David, Madame Pelicot’s son is also set to take the stand today but it remains unclear whether his father will be well enough to attend court to give evidence today
Meanwhile, Pelicot’s father Denis was said to be a vicious wife-beater who sent his son out to work from the age of 14 and took 80 per cent of his wages. His parents also took in a young girl, whom Denis is said to have abused.
The psychologist concluded that Pelicot had inherited a personality like that of his father – angry, stubborn and impulsive.
She said: ‘Dominique Pelicot comes from a troubled family in which young children were abused.
‘[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 concluded.
The psychologist also explained how Pelicot admitted he was very sexually demanding and routinely sought out sex on the internet.
He told her: ‘I went on the internet every day, I was constantly on sites offering wife-swaps.’
This afternoon Pelicot is set to take the stand at the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon.
The frail 71-year-old grandfather-of-seven was excused from court yesterday after his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told Judge Roger Arata that he required urgent treatment for abdominal pain.
Madame Pelicot is determined that the public knows that she played no part in her husband’s warped sexual fantasies that he played out at their picturesque chalet home in the Provence village of Mazan (pictured)
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told Judge Roger Arata that he required urgent treatment for abdominal pain
But today dozens of members of the public queued to watch the Monster of Avignon give his testimony in front of his wife Gisele and his children David, Caroline and Florian.
However as the court session opened Judge Arata announced that primary defendant Pelicot was still seriously ill and in need of medical attention.
It remains unclear whether Pelicot will be well enough to attend court to give evidence today.
In Madame Pelicot’s evidence, the couple’s only daughter Caroline Peyronnet told the court last week how her world fell apart when her mother called her to inform her of his crimes.
Her agony was compounded when detectives discovered Mr Pelicot had also taken photographs of Caroline lying motionless on a bed in her mother’s underwear.
Madame Peyronnet, 45, described her father as ‘one of the worst sexual predators of the last 20 years.’
Pelicot faces up to 20 years in jail. The other men face shorter sentences if found guilty.
The trial is set to last until December.
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