The French woman at the centre of the Avignon Monster gang rape trial today accused her attackers of being “degenerates”.
Gisèle Pélicot, 71, took the witness stand again on Wednesday to give the court permission to view horrific videos of her being drugged and raped by dozens of men.
Her husband, Dominque, 73, has been accused of raping her and arranging for at least 50 other men to sexually abuse her while high on drugs.
Mrs. Pélicot told the court: “Not for a second did I give my consent to Mr. Pelicot or to these men behind me.
“Since I arrived in this courtroom, I have been humiliated. I have been called an alcoholic, an accomplice to Mr. Pelicot.
Gisèle Pélicot arrives at the court of Avignon, France
Gisèle has attended every day of the trial since it began about two weeks ago.
“I’ve heard it all. It takes a certain amount of patience to bear all I have to hear.”
As the questioning continued, Ms. Pelicot raised her voice, stared at the defendants and said, “To me, they are degenerates.”
On Tuesday, Pélicot confessed to all charges and said he contacted his co-defendant in online chat rooms, before filming his brutal crimes at his family home.
“I fully acknowledge the charges,” Pélicot said. “I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom. They cannot say otherwise.”
As the questioning continued, Pélicot insisted that he “still loves” his ex-wife.
“I loved her well for 40 years and I loved her badly for 10 years,” Pélicot said. “I ruined everything, I lost everything. I should never have done that.”
Pélicot said he began the attacks against his wife because he was “completely idle” during his retirement.
He also claimed he “considered suicide” at one point after learning his wife was having an alleged affair.
Pélicot has been in pre-trial detention since 2020, when he was first arrested on suspicion of drugging and then raping Pélicot, while inviting men she contacted online to do the same.
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over a 10-year period
Last week, psychologists described Pélicot as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who appeared to be a normal husband during the day and then drugged his wife so that strangers could rape her at night.
Pélicot was first arrested in September 2020 for secretly filming under women’s skirts in a supermarket in Carpentras.
They searched his devices and found hundreds of pornographic videos and photographs of women.
It was during his arrest that Mr. Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, containing a file called “Abuses”.
Some 3,800 photographs and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped have been recorded between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
The Pélicot sex network consisted of advertising on a site for ‘couples’ an online forum called ‘Without her knowing’ on the site coco.fr.
Of the 83 men involved, 51 between the ages of 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.
It is said that Pélicot sedated his wife by giving her Temesta, a powerful anxiolytic, at her evening meal.
The 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, Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old real estate agent in Paris in 1991.
He admitted to attempted rape in 1999 after DNA evidence showed there were charges against him.
The Avignon aggravated rape case will be continued until December 21.
Fourteen of the other defendants also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
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