Women react in shock as 50 men go on trial over mass rape case in France

Avignon:

The wives and girlfriends of dozens of men on trial in France accused of raping another woman while she was drugged by her husband have reacted with anger and disbelief, although some say they will support the suspect.

In a trial that has shocked France, Dominique Pelicot, 71, has admitted to drugging his then-wife Gisele with sedatives so strangers could sexually abuse her in her own bed for almost a decade until 2020.

Another 50 men, aged 26 to 74, are on trial in the southern city of Avignon, accused of responding to his invitation to rape her.

Some, including Pelicot, are in custody and one is being tried in absentia, but 32 of the defendants are present as free men.

Among the women who testified at the trial, Vanessa P. said she no longer had any respect for her former partner Quentin H., 34, who was a prison guard when he allegedly abused Gisele Pelicot.

“When you see what they accuse him of, you start to question everything,” said the childcare worker, who accused him of being “manipulative.”

Emilie O., 33, similarly described her ex-partner Hugues M., a 39-year-old who was accused of “attempted rape” during the trial.

“I thought I was living a peaceful and fulfilling life, but I was wrong,” she said, adding that she would always fear that she too would be raped.

Emilie O. divorced her partner in 2020, when police exposed Gisele Pelicot’s years of abuse and discovered that Hugues M. had had several affairs.

‘He was always respectful’

Gisele Pelicot, now 71, has become a feminist icon at home and abroad since the trial started in September. She refused to be ashamed and demanded that the trial be open to the public.

Just like her, Cilia M. was also drugged and raped.

Her husband Jean-Pierre M., 63, is the only defendant in the trial not accused of abusing Gisele Pelicot.

Instead, he and Dominique Pelicot have been accused of repeatedly drugging and sexually assaulting Cilia M. between 2015 and 2018, using the same method.

“He was great, but he destroyed us,” said the mother of his five children, one of whom is disabled.

Cilia M. told the court she would “never forgive” her husband, who claimed his own father sexually abused him as a child.

She has since divorced him, but has not filed charges to “protect” her children.

Corinne M. had already divorced her husband, former contractor Thierry P., 54, when the Pelicot case came to light, after their son’s death in a traffic accident prompted him to become an alcoholic.

She was confused by his behavior.

When it came to sex, “he was always respectful. When it was no, it was no… I really don’t understand why he is here today,” she said during the trial.

Veronique Le Goaziou, a sociologist specializing in the subject of sexual abuse, told AFP partners of defendants were mostly “stunned”.

They often had difficulty imagining the alleged violence because it was “beyond their understanding,” she said.

“In some cases… they just can’t or won’t believe it.”

‘It’s not him’

Samira T. said she was still trying to understand why her partner Jerome V. raped Gisele Pelicot six times in her home in the southern city of Mazan in 2020.

But she would support him for the sake of ‘supporting’ him.

“If we met, it’s not a coincidence,” she said. “I’ve been given this mission.”

Jerome V., a 46-year-old former minimart worker who claims to have slept with 89 people, told the court he could not control his sexuality.

Samira T. said she had tried to satisfy his high libido by complying with his requests for sex almost every day “at 10 o’clock at night” and agreeing to have nude photos taken of her or go for naked walks.

“He had no reason to look elsewhere,” she said, crying.

Another woman, Hien B., blamed herself.

During a period when she was caring for her ailing mother, she had consistently rejected Jean-Luc L. when he wanted sex.

“I think as a man he decided to go somewhere else,” she said.

Among the partners of the suspects in Avignon, Sonia R. has been in a relationship with Patrice N. for just over a year.

She said she wanted to look to the future.

“I support him and trust him with all my heart,” she said.

Lucie B. also assisted Gregory S., her partner of seven years. She is pregnant with their third child.

“I don’t see him as a rapist. He’s not,” she said.

After they met in 2017, she said, he told her about a visit to the Pelicot house earlier that year.

“He told me it was a man and his wife’s idea of ​​fun, that she was drunk,” she added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)