The shocking case of abuse of Gisèle Pelicot, perpetrated by her husband Dominique Pelicot, who for a decade drugged and subjugated his wife, to be raped by him and dozens of men, has shocked France and the world. At the Avignon Criminal Court, Pelicot has made a terrifying statement in which he acknowledges the atrocious acts he perpetrated.
A confession full of belated remorse
Through tears, Pelicot has expressed regret in front of his ex-wife and his daughter, Caroline Darian, to whom he has reiterated his apologies. “I should never have done this, I’m going to die like a dog,” he acknowledged.
Despite his apologies, the wounds in his family run deep. Caroline, convinced that she was also a victim of her father, has been unable to avoid tears as she listens to his insistence that he did not drug her or abuse her, despite the fact that photographs of her naked and apparently unconscious appeared in the files confiscated by the police. .
“Protect her from pain”
Pelicot has explained that drugging his wife to rape her and offer her to numerous men was due to a perverse obsession: “Subjugating an unsubmissive woman was my fantasy, but without making her suffer.”
During the ten years of abuse, he has argued that he drugged his wife to “protect her from pain.” This attempt to justify the unjustifiable reflects the depth of his sex addiction, a condition that the accused himself has admitted and that, according to him, has led him to lose everything.
Gisèle Pelicot, now 71 years old, faces devastating physical and emotional consequences. In his words, the fight for justice is not only personal, but symbolic: “I decided to fight so that shame could change sides.”
His lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, stressed the importance of placing lack of consent as the central axis to judge the 50 co-defendants in the case. Some of these men have attempted to justify their actions by alleging ignorance of the abuse or alleged coercion exercised by Pelicot. However, Babonneau made it clear that rape can never be excused by the “right to error.”
This macro trial, which began in September and will end in December, has generated great international interest. Dominique Pelicot’s statements and the evidence presented have exposed an unprecedented case of systematic abuse, pointing to shared responsibility between the main accused and the men who participated in the rapes.
The Prosecutor’s Office will request sentences for the accused next week, and the final sentence is expected on December 20. Dominique Pelicot, who could face up to 20 years in prison, has already assumed that he will die in isolation.
