Gisèle Pélicot, 72, has a thought-provoking message for those who claim she “consented” to her husband’s violence for 10 years.

Warning: This article contains discussions of rape that may be disturbing to some readers.

On the stand this week after discovering that her own husband had enlisted up to 80 strangers to rape her in her sleep over a period of 10 years, Gisèle Pélicot responded to accusations that she gave consent to her alleged attackers.

The 72-year-old woman appeared for the first time on Tuesday before a judge in Avignon, France, where her husband, Dominique, 71, was on trial for a number of sickening crimes.

As many as 50 other men are also accused of being recruited by Dominique – after meeting him online – to perform sexual acts on the mother-of-three after she was drugged.

The attacker is said to have used a mixture of sleeping pills and other medications to ensure his wife slept through her ordeal.

Gisele was unaware of the abuse she had suffered and only began to suspect something was wrong after her family members noticed she was becoming forgetful and feared she was showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Her lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, told reporters this week – after Gisèle chose to waive her automatic anonymity – that she once “woke up in a panic with a new haircut and didn’t understand how that was possible.”

“She went to her hairdresser, who told her she had come the day before,” the lawyer explained.

It was around this time that Gisele also began to suffer from gynecological problems, having no idea that she was being regularly raped by strangers.

As her attackers – and her own husband – went on trial this week, spectators were appalled to hear defence lawyers accuse the woman of giving some of them consent to have sex with her.

A lawyer could be heard asking him on Thursday, September 5: “Some of the accused admit the facts, others deny all the facts, and still others confirm their presence but deny that it was rape.

“You’ve had four STDs and been exposed to HIV six times. What do you have to say to people who claim you consented to all of this?”

It was then that Gisèle – who was accompanied by her three children – addressed the court, making a formidable statement.

“All I can say is that it is an insult to my intelligence,” she explained bravely. “These individuals were fully aware of the state I was in. I never knowingly took part in any of these things.”

“How can you even try to make people believe that a woman would knowingly participate in all of this?”

Dominique Pélicot’s alleged crimes went unnoticed for more than a decade, until his arrest in 2020 for allegedly filming women up their skirts in a supermarket.

After investigating his home, police discovered that he had recorded countless assaults on his wife and had kept the tapes on a USB stick labelled “abuse”.

More than 20,000 images and films of Gisèle raped and abused since 2011 have been found.

Her husband’s lawyer said he had “always pleaded guilty”, claiming he had said: “I put her to sleep, I propositioned her and I filmed it.”

Each of the men accused of abusing Gisele while she was unconscious faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the crimes.

The trial is expected to last until December.

If you are affected by any of the issues discussed in this article and would like to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.