A 71-year-old French pensioner Dominique Pélicot from Mazan, southern France, is accused of drugging his wife, Gisèle, to facilitate the rape by 72 men over nine years.
Pélicot allegedly used high doses of anxiety-reducing drugs in her meals to keep her unconscious during these assaults.
Currently on trial with 51 alleged rapists, ranging in age from 26 to 73 and including civil servants, paramedics, truck drivers, and correctional officers, Pélicot’s testimony has been postponed twice due to his health.
He was recently hospitalised with a suspected bladder infection, and Judge Roger Arata has announced that Pélicot will not be able to attend court until at least Monday. The trial will proceed with evidence against the other defendants for the remainder of the week.
This week, the court in Avignon heard from psychiatrists who evaluated Pélicot, a retired electrician.
Testimonies revealed he exhibited signs of “paraphilic deviance,” characterised by a strong appetite for sexual acts on non-consenting victims, including voyeurism and somnophilia, or sexual arousal toward sleeping individuals. One psychiatrist noted that his wife’s unconscious state allowed him to exert increased control.
Another expert labelled Pélicot as a “highly” dangerous criminal who used his wife as “bait” to satisfy his twisted sexual fantasies.
During questioning, Pélicot reportedly admitted to deriving pleasure from seeing his wife touched by others and described himself as having an addiction preventing him from stopping.
Experts compared him to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, suggesting he had a “two-sided personality” that allowed him to act like a typical husband daily. His wife, Gisèle, had seen him as a “great guy” before learning of the abuse.
The alleged abuse was uncovered in 2020 when Pélicot was caught filming up the skirts of three women at a shopping centre. This led detectives to discover a laptop at the Pélicot home containing about 100 videos and 300 photos of the alleged rapes. Gisèle was shown pictures of the abuse and was later diagnosed with four sexually transmitted diseases.
Pélicot’s family, including his daughter Caroline Darian, described him as a “very caring” and “much-loved” grandfather. Darian expressed shock at the revelations, stating, “I loved my father.
I loved the image of the man I thought I knew. What hit was like a cataclysm.”
Pélicot is also accused of voyeurism against Caroline and his two stepdaughters. Prosecutors found photos of Caroline unconscious and in her underwear on his computer, as well as images from a hidden camera showing his stepdaughters naked in their bathroom.
Family members recalled a few unsettling incidents, such as one of his granddaughters seeing him take photos during a midnight swim.
Psychologist Annabelle Montagne testified that Pélicot admitted to the abuse during a session, saying, “My wife and I discussed swinging, but she didn’t agree, so I drugged her.”
Gisèle also recalled being woken by her husband having sex with her and experiencing episodes of forgetfulness and gynaecological issues, which she had not understood until the investigation.
The trial continues as the court examines the evidence against Pélicot and the other defendants.
