Dominique Pelicot on Wife: She 'Did Not Deserve This'

Frenchman accused of raping drugged wife, inviting others to do the same, takes the stand
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 17, 2024 6:06 AM CDT
Man Accused of Inviting Others to Assault Wife: 'I Am a Rapist'
Police officers walk in the Avignon courthouse prior to the trial of Dominique Pelicot, in Avignon, France, on Sept. 5.   (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

After a delay in testifying last week due to a reported medical issue, the Frenchman accused of raping his wife while she was drugged, and inviting others to do the same, finally took the stand on Tuesday, and he left no doubt as to his guilt. "I am a rapist," Dominique Pelicot, 71, told the Avignon court, per the Guardian, adding of the dozens of other men accused with him: "I am a rapist, like the others in this room."

  • More on his guilt: Pelicot went on to admit, "I am guilty of what I did." He told his family—including his ex-wife, 71-year-old Gisele Pelicot, who was in court and hasn't spoken to him since his 2020 arrest—that "I regret what I've done and I ask for forgiveness, even if it's unforgivable." As for his spouse, who testified herself earlier in the trial, Pelicot said: "[She] did not deserve this."

  • Background: Pelicot laid out a troubled childhood, one in which he says he was raped by a nurse when he was 9; subjected to a violent father, and a mother who was forced to have violent sex; and made to take part in a gang rape when he was 14. "You are not born a pervert, you become one," he said.
  • Other men: An attorney for some of Pelicot's 50 or so co-defendants said last week that his clients "were totally duped, fooled, tricked, and trapped by Mr. Pelicot," and that "without the intention to commit it, there is no rape," per the New York Times. Pelicot replied to that on the stand, noting, "They all knew her condition before they came, they knew everything. They cannot say otherwise."
  • Gisele Pelicot: "It's difficult to listen to Mr. Pelicot because in 50 years, I never imagined for a second that he could rape," she told the court on Tuesday, after her ex-husband's testimony, per the Guardian. "It's difficult for me to hear this today ... the acts of violence and barbarity. I didn't think for a second he could do it. I had full trust in that man."
  • Medical condition: What kept the Frenchman from testifying last week was a kidney stone and bladder infection, his lawyers said. However, the judge in the case had ordered a medical exam for Pelicot, and that exam showed he was fit to appear in court.
(More Dominique Pelicot stories.)

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