A civil engineer accused of raping the wife of the Monster of Avignon has told a French court he ‘feels sadness’ for her.
Father of two Cyrille Delville, 54, became the third of 50 men to take the stand in the ongoing sex trial that has shocked France.
Retired electrician Dominique Pelicot, 73, is accused of sedating and raping his wife Giselle at their home in the tranquil village of Mazan during a ten-year nightmare.
Father-of-two Delville was among dozens of men invited by Pelicot to rape Mrs Pelicot after being contacted via a now closed swingers website called Coco.fr
The men include a retired firefighter, journalist, councillor and truck drivers and graphic video of sex acts being carried out on Mrs Pelicot – who has waived her anonymity – have been played in court.
A defendant arrives at the courtroom on September 20 with a police officer
Gisele Pelicot (pictured) spoke out again on Tuesday about the rapes she suffered at the hands of scores of men while heavily sedated
A prison van arrives at the courtroom in Avignon on September 20
Delville has admitted raping her and his name emerged from devices police recovered from Pelicot’s home in 2020 when he was arrested for ‘upskirting’ women in his local supermarket.
He told the court he had been seeing a counsellor and since his arrest and that it had ‘helped ease his heart’ as he ‘felt a lot of sadness for Mrs Pelicot’.
Sobbing as he spoke to the court Delville added: ‘I don’t know if I will ever be able to take this off me. I can’t sleep. I have nightmares.’
Delville told the court as a result of his involvement in the case his wife – who he had known for 32 years – had left him.
He told the court they had had a ‘normal sex life’ but had then become bored and he had started looking at pornographic websites and he had joined Coco.fr to ‘chat’.
Meanwhile a woman who was upskirted by Pelicot in September 2020 at his local supermarket spoke for the first time in an interview with French TV station BFMTV.
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over 10yrs
Gisele Pelicot, flanked by her lawyer Stephane Babonneau, arrives at the courtroom on September 20
Gisele Pelicot pictured in a sketch with her daughter and lawyer in court on Wednesday
Gisele Pelicot arrives at the courtroom in Avignon on September 20
Identified only as Nathalie the mother of two described how she ‘didn’t shop in a dress for two years’ following the incident in Carpentras, a few minutes drive from Mazan.
She said: ‘He was acting like a miserable little guy, saying he hadn’t done anything. He was giving the attitude of a victim.’
Nathalie said the first she knew of what was happening was when a security guard approached and told her what Pelicot had been doing to her and three other women.
She added: ‘It was a month later when I realised the extent of what he had been up to, I threw away the dress I was wearing, I couldn’t stand it, I was traumatised.
‘For two years I didn’t go shopping in a dress anymore.’
In another development on Friday the trial judge ruled that press would also be banned from viewing graphic photos and videos of Mrs Pelicot.
Gisele Pelicot’s daughter Caroline Darian arrives flanked by her mother Gisele Pelicot at the Avignon courthouse on Tuesday
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
Mr Pélicot depicted appearing at the courthouse in Avignon on September 11
Previously public had been cleared from court and an adjoining room before they were screened but judge Roger Arata has ruled only those directly involved can see them.
One local journalist wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it was ‘regrettable’ as he would no longer be able to ‘explain the substance of the case’ to the public.
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