Gisèle Pelicot condemns rape accused and says French society must change

Gisèle Pelicot has denounced the mass rape case of 51 males as a “trial of cowardice”, and mentioned it’s excessive time that France’s “macho, patriarchal society” which “trivialises rape” modifications.

Ms Pelicot, who has attended the mass rape trial from its begin in September, entered the court docket wearing a darkish inexperienced jacket and a vibrant scarf. She was questioned by defence attorneys after the final defendant within the case, Philippe L, left the dock.

She has waived her proper to anonymity so the complete trial will be heard in court docket in Avignon within the full glare of publicity.

Her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, has admitted recruiting dozens of males on-line to rape her over for nearly a decade at their residence in Mazan.

In her opening remarks on Tuesday, Ms Pelicot mentioned that by giving up her proper to a trial behind closed doorways she “knew what I was signing up for”, though she conceded “today I can feel the tiredness”.

Warning: Some of the small print of this account are graphic from the beginning

This was the final probability that attorneys for the lads on trial for rape may need to persuade the judges that her ex-husband had one way or the other tricked them into raping her whereas she was unconscious.

The case has not simply shocked France, it has attracted curiosity from world wide. It has highlighted the difficulty of drug-induced sexual assault and raised questions on whether or not consent ought to change into a part of the French definition of rape.

A handful of the 50 admit raping Gisèle Pelicot, however the majority don’t.

About 15 defendants sat within the defendants’ field, whereas Dominique Pelicot, sporting a inexperienced jumper, sat in one other, resting his chin on his hand.

When he gave proof later within the day, his daughter Caroline shouted at him throughout the room that she was sick of his lies, laying naked the anger throughout the household.

Gisèle Pelicot sat behind her authorized workforce alongside her two sons and daughters-in-law.

When requested whether or not she thought there was a distinction between those that had admitted to raping her and those that had not, Ms Pelicot mentioned that “all came to rape me… all committed a crime”.

But she emphasised that when the accused had admitted to rape within the dock “I looked them in the eye”.

“I’ve seen individuals who deny rape parade before the court,” she mentioned. “I want to tell these men: at which moment when you enter that bedroom did Ms Pelicot give you consent?”

“I’ve heard ‘I was manipulated’, I’ve heard ‘I drank a glass of water, I was drugged’. But at what point did they not realise?”

Ms Pelicot was additionally requested why she continued to make use of her ex-husband’s identify when her personal kids had been utilizing different names.

The room was hushed as she responded calmly that when she had first gone into the court docket in Avignon her kids have been ashamed of the identify, however that her grandchildren have been nonetheless known as Pelicot.

“Today I want them to be proud of their grandmother,” she declared.

“My name is known across the world now. They shouldn’t be ashamed of carrying that name. Today we will remember Gisèle Pelicot.”

Not lengthy earlier than she took the stand, the final of the 50 defendants, Philippe L, mentioned he had been “surprised” by the state of affairs when Dominique Pelicot had welcomed him into his residence and insisted that he penetrate Gisèle Pelicot.

He additionally denies rape, arguing he put his conscience apart and “was thinking with my penis instead of my brain”.

The environment within the courtroom turned heated when Ms Pelicot was questioned by defence lawyer Nadia El-Bouroumi, who urged she had used “harsh words” in direction of the opposite defendants, however not her husband.

“Looking at you – and I’m sorry to say this – I wondered whether we’d ever see you cry,” El-Bouroumi requested at one level.

The lawyer’s combative and typically aggressive tone elicited gasps from the general public and the media contained in the courtroom, and a number of other folks shook their heads in disbelief.

Ms Pelicot rejected options that wanting again she may need “seen the signs” that one thing won’t have been proper on the mornings after being drugged: “I would wake up with my usual pyjamas on, so no.”

She spoke of shedding 10 years of her life by way of medical worries brought on by the medicine her former husband had given her with out her data.

“I thought I’d either die or end up in a mental hospital,” she mirrored. “I am 72 now and I don’t know how much time I have left.”

She was then requested by defence attorneys about partially bare photographs discovered on Dominique Pelicot’s laptop computer of their daughter Caroline.

The Pelicot’s kids then stormed out of the courtroom and didn’t come again for a while, whereas Gisèle Pelicot mentioned later that it “isn’t a family trial”.

When a defence lawyer put it to Ms Pelicot that she was nonetheless underneath her ex-husband’s management and couldn’t deliver herself to sentence him absolutely, she stood silently in court docket because the attorneys from either side shouted at one another.

The presiding choose needed to intervene to deliver the argument to an finish.

Later within the day the court docket heard an announcement from Dominique Pelicot given to police in November 2020, two months after he was caught filming underneath ladies’s skirts by a grocery store safety guard.

That ultimately led police to search out 1000’s of movies that he had filmed of males having intercourse along with his spouse whereas she was unconscious. She had no thought of what had gone on and realised he had been drugging her from 2011 to 2020.

Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted all the fees, was requested by Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer what he needed to say to his household, particularly his daughter Caroline.

When requested concerning the file he had known as “my naked daughter”, he addressed her throughout the room: “I have watched her fall apart… Caroline, I never touched you.”

She shouted throughout the court docket: “You are lying; I am sick of your lies, you’re alone in your lie, you will die lying.”

There was full silence as they checked out one another and Dominique Pelicot then held his head in his palms.

The remainder of the household, their faces stuffed with anguish, stared at him, whereas Gisèle Pelicot herself didn’t react.

Asked whether or not he accepted that he had manipulated the opposite defendants into raping his spouse or if he had drugged them, he mentioned firmly: “Absolutely not.”

He urged that they had used that defence “to save themselves”.

The trial is because of wind up subsequent month with a verdict within the second half of December.