HORROR ABUSE
‘Beast of Avignon’s’ brave victim Dominique Pelicot sees 27 sick images of her own rape as they’re shown to hushed court
Gisele said she had no memory of the pictures being taken
THE wife of the "Beast of Avignon" had to endure 27 photos of her harrowing rape being shown to a hushed court.
Gisèle Pélicot was drugged by her twisted husband Dominique Pelicot, 71, so that 72 men he recruited online could rape her over the course of 10 years.
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The 72-year-old voiced outrage to the court about the way the lawyers for some of the 50 men accused had relayed their claims that they believed she had consented and was enacting a fantasy when they had sex with her.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, told the court on Tuesday that he had organised the rape of his wife by 49 of the men over a decade after secretly sedating her.
She had known nothing about her ordeal until police found video of the crimes on his phone.
Twenty-seven images were shown to the court in silence this week, including Ms Pelicot naked and conscious, reports say.
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She said she had no memory of the pictures being taken.
Sixteen of the accused are denying guilt, claiming that they believed claims by Pélicot that they were playing a "libertine" game when they were invited to the couple's home at Mazan, near Avignon, where the trial is taking place.
Before the men gave evidence, Mrs Pélicot, who has gone public to expose the horrors of conjugal sexual violence, addressed the court.
"Today forgiveness does not exist," she said, adding that she was furious with the defence lawyers' conduct since the trial opened on September 2.
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"Since I arrived in this court, I have felt humiliated," she said.
"They have treated me as an alcoholic, making out that I get into an inebriated state in a way that makes me an accomplice of Mr Pélicot.
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"In the state that I was in, I absolutely couldn't reply to anything at all.
"I was in a state of coma, and the videos that they are going to show are going to prove that," she added.
While her life had been "destroyed" for ten years, she said: "I get the impression that I'm the guilty party and the 50 men behind me are victims."
The Pélicots' daughter, Caroline, photographs of whom were found on her father's devices alongside images of her mother being raped, was on the verge of tears as her mother spoke.
On Thursday, former supermarket manager Lionel Rodriguez, 42, spoke at the so-called "Monster of Avignon" trial in the French city.
He is one of 50 men accused of repeatedly violating Gisèle Pélicot alongside her husband Dominique.
Rodriguez said he first saw Ms Pélicot in person at the Leclerc store where he worked, when she was out shopping with Mr Pélicot in 2018.
The "Monster"; is said to have drugged her evening meals over almost a decade, while inviting "sex partners" he contacted online to defile his wife.
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Rodriguez addressed Ms Pélicot, who has been sitting at the Vaucluse Criminal Court throughout the trial, saying: "I would like to ask you for forgiveness.
"I can't imagine the nightmare you lived and it's horrible to tell me that I am part of this nightmare. I know that apologies won't change anything about what happened."
Recalling how he first met Mr Pélicot in an online chat room, Rodriguez said: "He suggested something a bit original," which meant regular sex with his wife.
Rodriguez was convinced Ms Pélicot was compliant, because her husband "sent me pictures of Gisèle naked in the garden, but she was awake, and it made me think she was in agreement."
At the time, Rodriguez worked at a Leclerc supermarket in nearby Carpentras, where the Pélicots were regularly customers.
"Pélicot knew that I worked at Leclerc," said Rodriguez.
"He came with Mrs. Pelicot, he acted as if he were a customer.
"He asked me how I found her. Gisèle was far away, I didn't talk to her. It was Dominique Pelicot who suggested that I meet him at Leclerc."
Admitting he regularly sexually penetrated Ms Pélicot at the family home close to his supermarket, Rodriguez continued: "It's about medication.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a - available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
"One time, she takes it, one time, he gives it to her. It's not very clear, but I’m convinced that it's a game.
"I don't really ask myself the question. I never thought that she might not be in on it, that was my first big mistake".
When he first arrived at the couple's home in the town of Mazan, Dominique Pelicot led him to the bedroom where Mrs. Pelicot was lying unconscious, and Rodriguez performed penetration.
Rodriguez told the court: "I did what he told me to do, he became very directive. I didn't make excuses. I really lost my footing. At one point, she was going to move a lot and he told me to get out and I realized there was a problem."
In a further bizarre twist, Mr Pélicot was finally brought to justice at the Leclerc supermaket in Carpentras, where Rodriguez had worked for 11 years as a departmental manager.
Mr Pélicot was caught "upskirting" – the slang term for filing up women’s skirts without them knowing – by a security guard in 2020.
He was handed over to detectives who found graphic pictures of rapes on Mr Pélicot’s devices.
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Recalling Pélicot’s arrest, Rodriguez said: "One morning, I saw an article saying that a man had been arrested for filming up skirts.
"I made the connection with what had happened to me, because it was Mazan.
"It’s an elderly person and I said to myself, no, it's not possible, I worked in the Leclerc store where Pelicot was arrested.
"I said to myself, 'you can't be part of such a sordid affair'. I was in denial."
Ms Pelicot, who has waived her right to anonymity during the trial, on Wednesday accused her attackers of being "degenerates".
She told the court that she felt humiliated by the suspicion expressed by defence lawyers that she may have been complicit in her ordeal.
"Not for a second did I give my consent to Mr Pelicot, nor to these men who are behind me," she said.
"Since I arrived in this courtroom, I have been humiliated. I have been called an alcoholic, an accomplice of Mr Pelicot.
"I have heard everything. You have to have a degree of patience to endure everything I have to hear."
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed on Ms Pélicot by 72 men of whom 51 have been identified aged between 26 and 73 years old.
Eighteen are in custody and are in court in a reinforced dock while the others – including Rodriguez – are on bail and free to enter and leave the building.
Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta into her evening meal and alleged attackers include civil servants, prison guards, a retired firefighter, a councillor and truck drivers.
After dodging giving evidence due to poor health, Dominique Pelicot took the stand at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, on Tuesday.
The vile grandfather made the twisted claim he recruited scores of men to rape his wife Gisèle Pélicot because he was "utterly idle" in retirement.
Pélicot is on trial alongside 50 other men charged with "aggravated rape" of his wife.
He now faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the horror crimes.
Asked by a defence lawyer how he "picked up dozens of strangers" to rape his wife, Pélicot said: "I didn’t pick anyone up, they came and got me themselves.
"They asked me and I said yes. They agreed and came to my home. I didn’t handcuff anyone to my home."
He told the court there was a tripod and camera in the bedroom, "for all to see", and that he respected everyone who turned up.
He said: ";I trusted these men who knew why they were coming."
There was also intense drama when Pélicot faced his only daughter, Caroline Darian, in court.
His daughter has previously claimed that she was also drugged by her sicko father.
However, he denied the claim in court.
'TORTURE CHAMBER'
Police found images on Mr Pélicot’s camera and laptop that showed multiple alleged rapes of his wife between 2011 and 2020.
Ms Pélicot had remained silent during the first three days of the rape trial but took the stands last Thursday to speak about the harrowing case.
The brave mum stood tall and faced dozens of men accused of sexually assaulting her while she allegedly lay unconscious.
Ms Pélicot said she does not know how she survived the atrocities that spanned over nine years by her husband who she thought was the love of her life.
She described the bedroom where she was raped as a "torture chamber".
"I don’t know how I survived ... I ask myself how I am standing before you," she told the court.
The mum even said she could have never "imagined" she was drugged "even for a single second".
"I lost 10 years of my life. Those are years I will never get back.";
Ms Pelicot revealed she thought of taking her own life, but with the support of her family and children, she gathered the courage to build a new identity.
Ms Pélicot could have chosen to stay anonymous and let the trial happen behind closed doors under French laws.
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But she decided to come out and speak of the horror she faced as she told the court "no woman should suffer" what she did.
The trial continues.
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