Two defendants in a gang-rape trial that shocked France reluctantly admitted Wednesday that they had raped a man’s wife after subjecting her to heavy sedation because they had not obtained her consent.
The main accused in the case, Dominic Pellicot, 71, has confessed to sedating his wife to rape her and involving strangers in sexual abuse from 2011 to 2020.
Another 49 men have also been accused of raping or attempting to rape his wife, Gisele Pellicot.
The trial began in early September in the southern city of Avignon.
Gisèle Pellicot, who is 71 and divorced from her husband, requested that the case be heard in public to raise awareness about drug use for sexual abuse.
The latest defendant in court on Wednesday, Husamettin D., 43, was at first unwilling to plead guilty to the charges against him.
She told how Dominic Pellicot had invited her over after meeting online in June 2019.
Husamettin D. said that Dominique Pellicot told her that his wife was next to him while they were talking via chat.
She said she received a message that read: “I am indeed his wife, and I agree to welcome you.”
Hüsamettin D. arrived at his home in the small town of Mazan that same evening, where he was taken to the master bedroom.
“I started the foreplay, I noticed she didn’t react. I said, ‘She’s dead, your wife.’ (Dominique Pellicot) said, ‘No, you’re imagining it.’ He penetrated her and she raised her head a little bit,” Husamettin D. said.
The defendant further stated that they continued to do this for at least half an hour until he clearly heard Gisele Pellicott snoring. He said that he then decided to leave.
But he added: “I’m not a rapist, this is intolerable to me. He’s her husband. I never thought that man could do this to his wife.”
When reminded of the definition of rape by a judge, Hüsamettin D. admitted that rape was “an act committed through violence, compulsion, threat or surprise”.
“I now believe it was rape,” he said.
Matthew D., 53, pleaded guilty to the charges against him.
He said Dominic Pellicott had told him he would “drug her and put her to sleep” so they could “watch the video together later.”
He said at the time he did not feel he was committing rape, but later, after he was arrested, he “realised” that Gisele Pellicot had not given her consent.
Dominique Pellicot meticulously documented the abuse, and his photographs and videos later helped investigators identify dozens of suspects.
Police discovered he had been abusing his wife for nearly a decade when he was detained in 2020 for filming up women’s skirts or “upskirting” them at a local supermarket.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
