Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
A 72-year-old woman appeared at a court in Avignon, France, on Monday (2 September) where her husband, 71, stood trial over a series of heinous crimes believed to have been committed over the last decade.
Dominique Pélicot allegedly drugged his wife, Gisèle Pélicot - who has waived her right to anonymity - before inviting more than 80 strangers to the home they shared, to rape her.
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The abuse is reported to have gone on for almost a decade, before Pélicot was arrested in 2020 after he was allegedly caught filming up women's skirts in a local supermarket.
Police believe that Pélicot had used sleeping tablets, and other medication which he added to his wife's meals.
It's then believed that he invited men he had met online to rape and sexually abuse Gisèle at the home they shared in Mazan, Provence.
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After Pélicot - who reportedly managed to get hold of 450 sleeping tablets in one year - was arrested, police discovered a file called 'abuses' on a USB drive. In the file, there were 20,000 images and video files of Gisèle being raped and abused, since 2011.
The horrifying case has shaken France, with judge Roger Arata announcing this week that the trial would be public.
Judge Arata has granted Gisèle's wish for 'complete publicity until the end', one of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, said.
“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,” one of her other lawyers, Antoine Camus, told Agence France-Presse.
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A further 50 men - including a former police officer, nurses, a prison guard and a local councillor - accused of being involved in the abuse were also on trial at the court.
Several of men standing trial alongside Pélicot claim they were not aware Gisèle was not a willing participant.
"We are not dealing with habitual rapists," one lawyer told the MailOnline.
"They agreed to go (to the Pelicots' house) and take their responsibilities. But they did not have the impression or at all the intention of going to rape – otherwise they wouldn't have gone."
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Another said: "They went without knowing the trap that was set for them, maybe because they didn't ask the right questions – they didn't realise anything."
Pélicot's lawyer said he has 'always declared himself guilty' claiming he said: “I put her to sleep, I offered her, and I filmed.”
Gisèle - who has no recollection of the abuse - was at court with her three children.
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Authorities in France have said she has been left devastated, with Babonneau adding: “One morning she woke in a panic with a new haircut without understanding how this was possible. She went to her hairdresser, who told her she had been in the previous day."
Gisèle believed she had an illness, with her relatives suspecting Alzheimer’s disease.
Although the prosecutor had asked for the trial not to be public, Gisèle wanted people to know the truth.
“She wants people to know what happened to her and believes that she has no reason to hide," her lawyers said.
"No one can imagine that my client will find any satisfaction in exposing what she has suffered. She wants this hearing to be open so that justice can be done in public.
“Whether one likes it or not, this trial goes beyond the limits of this courtroom. And going behind closed doors also means asking my client to be locked in a place with those who attacked her.”
Pélicot is also accused of the rape and murder of a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
Another estate agent - aged 19 at the time - also suffered a similar attack, but escaped. Police have said that Pélicot's DNA profile matches that found at the scene.
The trial is due to last until December.
If you have been affected by the content of this article, you can find help, support and advice at The Survivors Trust.
Topics: News, World News, Crime
Lucy Devine