A French retiree will go on trial on Monday on charges that he recruited dozens of strangers online to rape his wife after drugging her unconscious, in a case that has shocked the nation.
The main suspect, a 71-year-old former employee of French power company EDF, is also on trial as are 50 other people in the southern city of Avignon.
He is accused of raping the woman, who his lawyers say was so sedated that she was unaware of the abuse.
One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, said the trial would be “a terrible ordeal” for the woman, who is in her 70s and does not want her identity revealed.
“For the first time, long after the incident, she has to relive the rapes she has endured for more than 10 years,” he told AFP, adding that his client had “no memory” of the abuses, which she only learned about in 2020.
Camus said the woman wanted the hearing to take place behind closed doors, but she didn’t because “that’s what her attackers wanted.”
“She is absolutely determined to confront them and her husband, with whom she lived for 50 years but about whom she knew nothing, as she found out at the age of 68,” the lawyer said.
Police began investigating the accused, Dominic P., in September 2020 after he was caught by a security guard secretly making videos under the skirts of three women at a shopping centre.
Police said that upon searching his computer, they found thousands of photos and videos of his wife, in which she appeared to be unconscious and mostly in the foetal position.
The images allegedly show dozens of rapes that took place in the couple’s home. The village of Mazan, which has a population of just 6,000, is about 33 kilometres (21 miles) from Avignon in Provence.
up to six times
Investigators also found chats on a site called coco.fr, which has been shut down by police, in which he asked strangers to come to his home and have sex with his wife.
Police counted a total of 92 rapes, committed by 72 men, 51 of whom were formally identified.
Dominic P. admitted to investigators that he had given his wife powerful tranquilizers, specifically Temesta, an anxiety-reducing medication.
The abuse began in 2011, when the couple were living near Paris, and continued even after they moved to Mazan two years later.
The suspect had given strict instructions to them not to wake her up while he was abusing her at night.
No smell of aftershave or cigarettes was allowed, and they had to warm their hands before touching her, and had to undress in the kitchen so they would not accidentally leave their clothes in the bedroom.
According to prosecutors, the husband participated in the rape, videotaped it and encouraged other men to do so while using abusive language.
No money was taken in hand.
The accused rapists were aged between 21 and 68, and included a forklift driver, a fire brigade officer, a company owner and a journalist.
Some were single, some were married or divorced, and some were family men. Most participated only once, some participated up to six times.
‘Close to a coma’
Their defense was that they had simply helped a promiscuous couple live out their sexual fantasies, but Dominic P. told investigators they knew all along that his wife had been drugged without his knowledge.
The trial will have to establish to what extent they understood the situation when they had intercourse with the woman, whose state, according to one expert, was “closer to a coma than to sleep.”
Her husband told prosecutors that only three of the men left the house immediately after arriving, while all of the others had sexual intercourse with his wife.
Dominic P., who said he was raped by a male nurse when he was nine, is now ready to face “his family and wife”, his lawyer Beatrice Zavaro told AFP.
This trial is likely not his last. He is also accused of murder and rape in 1991, which he denies, and attempted rape in 1999, which he admitted after conclusive DNA testing.
“There is no typical profile of a rapist,” sexual violence expert Veronique Le Gouzeau told AFP.
“Many people would say he’s crazy,” he said of Dominic P. “But that’s by no means certain. Only a small number of rapists are diagnosed with actual mental illness.”
Psychological evaluations during the investigation revealed that Dominic P. was an “elitist” and “manipulative” man with a “perverted” personality who used his wife as “bait”.
The trial will continue till December.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
