Husband accused of inviting strangers to rape his wife tells court 'I am a rapist like everyone else'

Dominique Pelicot
-Credit: (Image: Supplied)


A sexual predator has admitted drugging his then-wife and allowing multiple strangers to attack her. Dominique Pelicot, spoke for the first time about his crimes on Tuesday morning as he told the court: "I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom".

Pelicot, 71, said he "recognise[s] the facts in their totality." The 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 Gisele Pellicot, also 71. She watched on in court as Pelicot admitted his horrific crimes. For the latest news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

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"Today, I maintain that, with the obligations we all have, I am a rapist, like everyone in this room. They cannot say otherwise." Pelicot also focused on alleged crimes he had 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," said Pelicot. But all this changed, said Pelicot, when he met his wife as a teenager. "I was very happy with her," said Pelicot.

Gisele Pelicot
Gisele Pelicot looks on at the Avignon courthouse during the trial of her former partner Dominique Pelicot accused of drugging her for nearly ten years and inviting strangers to rape her -Credit:AFP via Getty Images

"She was the opposite of my mother, who was completely rebellious. We had three children, and grandchildren, whom I never touched."

Offering further mitigation, Pelicot 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."

Then in dramatic scenes in court Gisele Pelicot was given permission to react immediately to her ex-husband's opening words. Ms Pelicot told the court: "For me, it is difficult to hear it. For fifty 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." In turn, Dominique Pelicot 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."

He said Gisele Pelicot from whom he has now divorced "did not deserve this." Pelicot has been on remand since 2020, when he was first arrested on suspicion of gassing and then raping Ms Pelicot, while inviting men he contacted on line to do the same. Pelicot is facing a jail sentence of up to 20 years, along with all the other defendants.

Gisele Pelicot (C) looks on, next to her lawyer Stephane Babonneau (R), at the Avignon courthouse during the trial
Gisele Pelicot (C) looks on, next to her lawyer Stephane Babonneau (R), at the Avignon courthouse during the trial -Credit:AFP via Getty Images

Last week, psychologists descrived Pelicot 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. Pelicot'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 secretly photographed her in the nude, along with her two sister-in-laws. This was at the same family home in Mazan, to which Pelicot had invited the alleged rapists. Pelicot was first arrested in September 2020 for secretly filming up women's skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras.

His devices were searched and police found hundreds of explicit videos and photos of women. When in custody, Pelicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, which contained a file called 'Abuses'.

It listed the nickname and telephone numbers of attackers, together with some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisele Pelicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020. Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.

Dominique Pelicot's face
Pelicot claimed he never considered his wife as an 'object' -Credit:Supplied

Pelicot's sex ring involved advertising on a site for 'partners' on an online forum called 'Without Her Knowing'. Of the 83 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.

Pelicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting 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, Pelicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. He has 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. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news.