A French court has declared the ex-husband of Gisele Pelicot guilty of rape and all other charges against him.
A panel of five judges in France delivered verdicts for more than four dozen men charged with aggravated rape and sexual assault on Gisele Pelicot in a historic case.
Among the men on trial is Dominique Pelicot, the now ex-husband of the 72-year-old grandmother who admitted that for years, he knocked his wife of 50 years out with drugs so he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her while he filmed the assaults.
(CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
The ordeal inflicted over nearly a decade on Gisele Pelicot in what she thought was a loving marriage, and her courage during the trial has transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist hero of the nation.
Dominique Pelicot, also 72, and 49 other men were tried for aggravated rape and attempted rape – and face up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Pelicot testified that he hid tranquillisers in food and drink that he gave his then-wife, knocking her out so profoundly that he could do what he wanted to her for hours.
“I’ve decided not to be ashamed — I’ve done nothing wrong,” Gisèle said in court.
“They (rapists) are the ones who must be ashamed.
“I’m not expressing hatred or hate, but I am determined that things change in this society.
“It’s not courage. It’s determination to change things. This is not just my battle, but that of all rape victims.”
Dominique admitted: “I am a rapist. I acknowledge all the facts [of the case] in their entirety.”
(CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife — more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked ‘abuse’, ‘her rapists’, ‘night alone’ and other titles.
The abundance of evidence led police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers but were not able to identify them all.
Although some of the accused — including Dominique Pelicot — acknowledged they were guilty of rape, many did not, even in the face of video evidence.
The hearings sparked wider debate in France about whether the country’s legal definition of rape should be expanded to include specific mention of consent.
Some defendants argued that Dominique Pelicot’s consent covered his wife, too.
Some sought to excuse their behaviour by insisting that they had not intended to rape anyone when they responded to the husband’s invitations to come to their home.
Some laid blame at his door, saying he misled them into thinking they were taking part in consensual kink.
