Dominique Pélicot, a 71 year old French man, and his 50 co-defendants have been accused of raping his now ex-wife Gisèle Pélicot.
The case so far
For over 10 years, Dominique Pélicot was drugging his wife and inviting strangers into their home to rape her whilst she was heavily sedated, and was getting away with it. That all changed when he was arrested in November 2020 for upskirting women in a supermarket.
Having regularly filmed the assaults at home, it was only then that police discovered the horrific events that had taken place for over a decade. In total, police have uncovered approximately 20,000 images of Gisèle’s assaults and found at least 72 men have been raping her between 2011 and 2020.
The trial started in September and is due to take place until December. The courts have so far heard how Dominique Pélicot met the men on the now-deleted website Coco, known for containing content that involved illegal activities, on a “Without their knowledge” messaging forum.
Dominique Pélicot would give the men precise instructions, such as not wearing cologne or smoking, to avoid the possibility of waking Gisèle up. Whilst their identities have not been revealed, it has been confirmed that they come from a wide variety of professions, including firefighters, journalists, and soldiers.
A concoction of medications would be used on Gisèle, which caused her to become increasingly unwell over the 10 years. With no answers from medical professionals, she started to believe she was developing Alzheimer’s due to memory lapses, hair loss and unexplained weight loss.
“I am a rapist like the others in this room. They all know, they cannot say the contrary.”
Dominique Pélicot
Many of the men accused of raping Gisèle claim they were “manipulated” into thinking they were taking part in an erotic fantasy, and that she was only pretending to be asleep. Mr Pélicot has disputed this, saying all of his co-defendants were fully aware that Gisèle was drugged, and knew they were being filmed.
Gisèle Pélicot had a right to a private trial, however in a brave move she waived her anonymity. Not only has this allowed for a shift in the public focus to Dominique, but it offers confidence to other victims of rape that they should not be forced or shamed into staying silent.