Gisele Pelicot gave her final statement in court this morning as a panel of judges prepares to deliver their verdict on a trial that has shaken France for the past 10 weeks.
Appearing in court in Avignon and looking at the men who abused her for a decade, the French grandmother said she believed she had been raped “more than 200 times” and “towards the end two or three times a week.”
‘If this had continued, I could have died. They could have had this on their conscience… Everyone could have reported this. None did,’ he said in his last opportunity to respond to everything said since the trial began.
Her “monstrous” husband, Dominique Pelicot, admitted in court to inviting dozens of strangers to his home to rape his wife Gisele after drugging her, many of whom now say they believe she consensually participated in a sex game.
Having bravely waived her anonymity, Ms Pelicot today took the opportunity to condemn what she called the “sexist, patriarchal society that trivialises rape” after hearing “many whispered and unacceptable things” about the trial.
“I knew what I was going to expose myself to by refusing to attend a closed-door hearing,” he said this morning before the court in southeastern France.
‘Obviously I admit that I feel tired today. I have been omnipresent. I find it very difficult when people say that it is practically commonplace to have raped Madame Pelicot.
The courtroom in southeastern France filled as Pelicot reflected on the impact of a decade-long campaign of abuse, in which she was raped and abused by her husband and dozens of other men while she was unconscious.
The case, which has shaken France and sparked large demonstrations across the country, is expected to conclude on December 20.
Gisele Pelicot, flanked by her son Florian (right), arrives at court for the trial hearing on November 19.
Dominique Pelicot is accused of allowing several men to rape his wife while she was sedated
Gisele Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, arrives at court on November 19.
Wearing a long printed skirt, tan bolero jacket, blouse and scarf, she held her head high as she took the stand in front of her disgraced husband Dominique and his 50 co-defendants this morning.
Pelicot’s final statements in court Tuesday gave the 72-year-old a chance to respond to claims made over the past 10 weeks.
She told how the case had left her “tired” after ten weeks of intense scrutiny and publicity surrounding the abuse.
“I knew what I was signing up for when I waived the right to a closed trial,” Ms. Pelicot said this morning. “I admit that today I can feel tired.”
The case has shaken France and sparked mass protests on behalf of Pelicot in recent weeks following her decision to share how her life was derailed by abuse.
“I’m 72 now and I don’t know how much time I have left,” she said in court this morning, adding that the years she thought she was sick “felt like a death sentence.”
Dominique Pelicot admitted in 2020 to drugging his then-wife for nearly a decade and recruiting about 50 men to abuse her in their home while she was unconscious.
He is also expected to speak today, ahead of a panel of judges’ verdict.
For more than two months, the trial has been shown graphic images and footage of Madame Pelicot unconscious and snoring in her bed while being abused by different men.
Today he asked the court: ‘At what point, when they entered this room, did Mrs. Pelicot give her consent?
‘At what point, when you see the inert body, don’t you tell yourself that something is not normal to happen without this room?
“For me it is proof of cowardice.”
Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot leaves during a break in the trial of Dominique Pelicot with 50 co-defendants, at the courthouse in Avignon, France, on November 19, 2024.
Gisele Pelicot arrives at court today to make her final statements before the verdict
A courtroom sketch shows Ms. Pelicot and her ex-husband on September 17, 2024.
The Defense also had the opportunity to question Ms. Pelicot, as she continued to deny being in any way complicit in the sexual acts.
Lawyer Nadia El Bouroumi pressed Mrs Pelicot about her relationship with her ex-husband, asking why she had not used “harsh words” against her husband, as she had with other defendants.
Ms Pelicot was also asked why she did not attend court when her ex-husband was absent and why she brought him warm clothing when he was in jail.
She responded that she and her son had brought him clothes after his arrest.
Pelicot later said that she remains a “positive person” and tries to remember the best of her ex-husband, acknowledging her own difficult upbringing.
She said she believes her ex-husband, who has implicated many of the other defendants, is being “sincere.”
“And I feel anger at the defendants because they didn’t even report things to the police for a second,” he said.
‘I’m angry. No man complained. Not one.’
She added: “I think I was raped more than 200 times. Towards the end I was raped two or three times a week.
‘I don’t think my body can take much more. I thought I had developed Alzheimer’s (disease).’
Dominique Pelicot, 71, admitted in court to having invited dozens of strangers to his home to rape his wife Gisele after he drugged her.
From the stand, Pelicot reflected on how she had had elements of what she called a “normal life,” while acknowledging that a decade plagued by anxieties about her health had been taken away from her.
She said she couldn’t “see the signs” that something was wrong and woke up unaware that she had been drugged and assaulted in the following mornings.
‘We had breakfast. We would go for a walk,” he told the court.
Some of the defendants in the case have stated that they believed Mr. and Pelicot had set up some sort of “sex game” and that they believed she was consenting.
He reiterated Tuesday that he snored in videos showing his abuse.
He continued to stress that “I do not forgive him” (Mr. Pelicot).
‘His actions were unforgivable. “I was betrayed and deceived,” she said.
Gisele Pelicot’s children, Caroline Darian (R) and David (C), arrive at court today.
The slogan reading “Gisele, women, thank you” is seen on a city wall during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, October 23, 2024.
A woman walks past a mural created by Maca_dessine depicting Gisele Pelicot and a phrase that reads “So that shame changes sides” in Gentilly, south of Paris, on September 21.
Mr and Mrs Pelicot’s children stormed out of court as they questioned their mother about images found on her laptop.
The images show his daughter Caroline partially naked.
Pelicot claimed in court yesterday that he was being blackmailed over the photographs.
When asked about the photos, Pelicot said he didn’t “know what to say about it.”
“He’s going to have to respond to that,” he said.
When Pélicot was first arrested in September 2020, his devices were searched and there were hundreds of pornographic videos and photographs of women.
While detained, Mr. Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, that contained a file called “Abuses.”
Police discovered disgusting photographs of Caroline Darian and Pélicot’s two daughters-in-law, among thousands of images and videos.
In court this morning, Mrs. Pelicot refused to answer questions about her daughter, saying “it’s not a family trial.”
Eldest brother David, 50, urged his father to tell the court “what he did to my sister, who suffers every day and will suffer for the rest of her life, because I don’t think he will ever tell the truth.” . .
And he demanded that his father tell if he had abused his grandchildren, whom he had supposedly asked to ‘play doctor’.
Pelicot responded that he had done “nothing.”
Dominique Pelicot, the so-called Monster of Avignon, arrives at the court for the trial
Mr. Pélicot appears before the Avignon court on September 11
At one point, Dominique Pelicot interrupted his son’s testimony, saying he wanted to apologize for what he had done.
But David Pelicot shouted at him: “Never!”
The younger brother, Florian, 38, added that his father was “the devil himself.”
His sister, who uses the pseudonym Caroline Darian, had testified earlier in the trial and told the court again on Monday that she believed her father had also abused her.
Dominique Pelicot, the main defendant, is expected to give evidence today.
The last of the 50 defendants, named only as Philippe L., also gave evidence this morning, alleging that Mr. Pelicot told him that he and his wife were interested in meeting up for sex.
He allegedly told the defendant that his wife would be asleep as part of a sexual game, before telling Philippe L. to touch her sexually.
The abuse only came to an end after Pélicot was arrested for taking upskirt photographs of women at a local supermarket in November 2019.
Pélicot has been in pretrial detention since 2020, when he was first arrested on suspicion of gassing and then raping Ms. Pélicot, while inviting men he contacted online to do the same.
The trial, which Caroline Darian previously described as “the worst sex in France in two decades”, continues.