“I am a rapist,” a 71-year-old French man accused of drugging his wife so he and several strangers could attack her told a court on Tuesday. He was back in court after being sick for nearly a week.
Dominique Pellicot used a cane as he slowly entered the courtroom in the southern city of Avignon, and sat in a blue chair to give him enough comfort to attend the hearing.
“I’m a rapist just like everybody else in this room,” Pellicott said, referring to the 50 other defendants in the mass trial — men he allegedly recruited online to rape his then-wife, Gisele Pellicott.
He said “they all knew” that he was inviting them to rape him.
But he also said, “She didn’t deserve it.”
Dominique Pellicot is accused of prescribing anti-anxiety medications to Gisele over a period of nearly a decade from 2011 to 2020.
When she was unconscious, he raped her and encouraged dozens of other men he met on the Internet to do the same.
Dominic Pellicot has admitted to the charges, but Tuesday marked the first time he has spoken in detail since his trial began on Sept. 2.
The court may also question Gisele Pellicot, who was present in the courtroom along with Dominic’s brother Joel.
The defendant’s lawyer Beatrice Zavaro told AFP on Monday that he was suffering from “a clot in the bladder” and a kidney infection.
But a medical examination ordered by the presiding judge found he was fit to appear in court, preventing the trial from being delayed for weeks or months.
Zavaro said adjustments would be made to the “order of hearings” and that Dominique Pellicot would receive “regular rest.” He said the health complaints were not an attempt by his client to evade justice.
Dominique Pellicot’s testimony will be decisive for 50 other people, aged between 26 and 74, whose cases are to be heard in the coming days.
Some accusers have admitted that he told them he was drugging his then-wife, while others claim they believed they were participating in a swinger couple fantasy.
The case has sparked outrage across France, with thousands of people protesting in cities over the weekend to demand a halt to rape and show support for Gisèle Pellicot.
He requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about drug use for sexual abuse.
“Thanks to you I have the strength to see this fight through to the end,” Gisele told protesters on Monday.
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