A man described as one of the worst sexual predators in France today admitted drugging his wife and allowing multiple strangers to attack her, saying: “I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom.”
Dominique Pélicot, 71, spoke for the first time about his crimes on Tuesday morning, saying: “I recognise the facts in their totality.”
The white haired grandfather was appearing in the dock at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, following a week of ill health.
He is on trial alongside 50 other men, all of them accused of the “aggravated rape” of his wife Gisèle Péllicot, also 71.
She looked on impassive today as Pelicot shuffled into court using a cane to support himself. In a dramatic scene in court, Ms Pelicot was then given permission to react immediately to her husband’s confession, saying: “For me, it is difficult to hear it.
“For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined for a single second that he could do these acts. I had complete confidence in this man.”
Wearing a thick grey shirt, Pélicot owned up to crimes that had seen his own daughter describe him as “one of the greatest sexual predators” of recent years.
He said: “Today, I maintain that, with the obligations we all have, I am a rapist, like everyone in this room. They cannot say otherwise.”
Offering further mitigation, he said: “I am accused of many things. We are not born perverts, we become them. Even if it is paradoxical, I have never considered my wife as an object.”
In turn, he then pleaded for sympathy, saying: “I am guilty of what I did. I subjected my wife, my children, my grandchildren to this. I regret what I did. I ask for forgiveness even if it is not forgivable.”
Pélicot also focused on alleged crimes he had allegedly suffered as a child, saying he was raped as a nine year old, and then forced to witness another sex attack when he was 14. “I remember nothing from my youth but shocks and traumas,” he said.
But all this changed, said Pélicot, when he met his wife as a teenager.
“I was very happy with her,” he said. “She was the opposite of my mother, who was completely rebellious. We had three children, and grandchildren, whom I never touched.”
He said Gisèle Pélicot – from whom he has now divorced – “did not deserve this.”
At the end of the short statement, Ms Pélicot lowered her head, putting her sunglasses on.
Pélicot has been on remand since 2020, when he was first arrested on suspicion of gassing and then raping Ms Pélicot, while inviting men he contacted on line to do the same.
He is facing a jail sentence of up to 20 years, along with all the other defendants.
Last week, psychologists described him as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who appeared like a normal husband during the day, and then drugged his wife so strangers could rape her at night.
Pélicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, 46, last week told the court that he was “one of the greatest sexual predators” of recent years.
She said he secretely photographed her in the nude, along with her two sister-in-laws. This was at the same family home in Mazan, some 20 miles from Avignon, to which Pélicot had invited the alleged rapists.
Pélicot was first arrested in September 2020 for secretely filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras. His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of pornographic videos and photos of women.
It was while in custody that Mr Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, which contained a file called “Abuses”.
It classified the nickname and telephone numbers of attackers, together with some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020. Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
Pélicot’s sex ring involved advertising on a site for “partners” on an online forum. Of the 83 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.
Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta – a powerful anxiolytic – into her evening dinner.
Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.
In a separate case, Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. He has also admitted one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing proved a case against him.
The Avignon aggravated rape case is due to last until December 21. Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
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