A French woman whose husband has admitted drugging her and inviting more than 80 men to rape her over the course of a decade has said she “was sacrificed on the altar of vice” and treated “like a rag doll”.
Gisèle Pélicot told the court she was “never complicit” in the sexual acts and had not pretended to be asleep - but was urged by the judge that in order to respect the presumption of innocence, it had been agreed in court not to use the word rape but “sex scene”.
During court proceedings, it was revealed that one of the men is HIV positive, and he was invited by her husband Dominique to rape Gisèle more than six times. Dominique did not require the rapists to wear a condom.
After a medical examination, Gisèle learned that she was carrying four sexually-transmitted diseases.
“Inside me, it is a scene of devastation,” Gisèle said. “I no longer have an identity. … I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself.”
Gisèle Pélicot waived her right to anonymity in order for the crimes to be made public.
Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pélicot, told 𝘊̧𝘢 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘥'𝘩𝘶𝘪 how she learned that her father had been drugging her mother and inviting more than 80 men to rape her at their home as he filmed the attacks.
Dominique Pélicot would reach out to potential abusers on an internet chatroom, then ask those selected if, like him, they were into “𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱” before posting pictures of his wife on a private forum called “𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲”.
“These men ... they're just ordinary people... they are a representative sample of French society. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗿. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. When you see their profiles, it's chilling because they have children. Most of them are in a relationship, it's surreal.”
Investigators uncovered 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀 on Pélicot's devices.