Photo: Christophe Simon Agence France-Presse Gisèle Pelicot, 71, the main victim in this case, gave a moving testimony on Thursday, without ever glancing at her ex-husband, from whom she is now officially divorced.
David Courbet – Agence France-Presse in Avignon
Published at 8:29 a.m.
- Europe
The extraordinary trial of a man accused of drugging and raping his wife for ten years by men recruited on the Internet continues Monday in the south of France with the hearing of psychiatric experts before starting to hear the 51 accused this week.
A rapist by night, but a caring grandfather by day, described as a “great guy” by his wife, just before she learned of the horror of the events in the fall of 2020: it is first a psychological and psychiatric portrait of Dominique Pelicot, 71, which will be drawn up Monday by four experts, opening the second week of this trial scheduled to last four months before the criminal court of Vaucluse, in the south of France.
This “two-faceted” personality of a “manipulative pervert”, described as the “conductor of the rapes” by a co-accused, had already been outlined by a first expert on Friday, when he mentioned Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
The defense lawyers spoke first on Monday morning, asking the president of the court to “do everything to guarantee the serenity of the debates”.
They announced that complaints would be filed after threats, sometimes physical, received by certain defendants and members of their family, even their children. Lists of Dominique Pelicot's 50 co-defendants, and sometimes their photos, have been circulated on social media in recent days with threats, in defiance of the presumption of innocence.
A total of 32 defendants appear free, 18 are detained and a 51st is on the run. They arrived on Monday, a surgical mask hiding their faces, lowering their heads in front of the many cameras of the media around the world.
The main accused, the husband, was excused from the hearing due to intestinal pain. He appeared very diminished when he entered his box, leaning on his cane and the window.
If the provisional schedule for this trial is respected, Dominique Pelicot should give his first explanations on Tuesday afternoon.
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A fan of swinging
The first expert to speak out on Monday, psychologist Marianne Douteau highlighted Dominique Pelicot's “angry” character, “inspiring fear”, “lying and secretive”. Traits similar to those of his father, whom he hated.
His parents ran a hotel-restaurant. He had worked in particular as a worker in the nuclear sector before launching into real estate, with mixed success.
“Mr. Pelicot's sexuality appears to be modeled on his personality: it is described as ordinary in public, but within his couple, he has a tenacious sexuality, like the swinging that his wife refused and which he compensates for by using pornographic discussion sites,” she continued.
On Monday, other members of the Pelicot family will also provide testimony to describe this septuagenarian who recruited dozens of men on the Internet, from July 2011 to October 2020, to come and rape his wife, whom he drugged with anxiolytics.
The events mainly took place in Mazan, a small town in the south of France where the couple had moved in early 2013.
Among the people to be heard, David and Florian Pelicot, the couple's two sons, but also Pierre P., the son-in-law, and Joël Pelicot, the brother of the main accused, a retired general practitioner. The only character witness called on Monday at the request of the accused will be Ginette Pelicot, his half-sister.
Co-accused aged 26 to 74
Gisèle Pelicot, 71, the main victim in this case, gave a moving testimony on Thursday, without ever glancing at her ex-husband, from whom she is now officially divorced.
“In 50 years, I have never seen him say an inappropriate thing about a woman or say obscene things,” she assured, describing this “attractive young man, sailor sweater, long hair” with whom she had “fallen in love” in the summer of 1971, forming with him “a close-knit couple”, without “a power struggle”.
Her daughter Caroline and her two stepdaughters, Céline and Aurore, were heard on Friday. The three had been photographed naked, without their knowledge, by their father and stepfather, and sexual photomontages of them had then been distributed on social networks.
Starting Wednesday afternoon, the court is expected to begin questioning the other defendants, 50 men aged between 26 and 74. Like Dominique Pelicot, most of them face 20 years in prison for aggravated rape.
The hearings have so far taken place in a cramped room where the defendants appearing free rub shoulders with the civil parties — much to the latter's regret, who see it as an “assault” — and where journalists from around the world gather.