Avignon monster Dominique Pelicot has told court that he raped his ex-wife at a motorway rest stop while returning from a holiday because it was his “fantasy”.
Evil Pelicot, 71, is accused of putting sleeping pills in Gisele Pelicot’s meals and then inviting dozens of men he met on a swinging website to rape her while he filmed.
The heartbreaking case has made headlines around the world, but at the same time his ex-partner has bravely waived his anonymity to testify against him and the other defendants.
Earlier this week, she bravely described how she had suffered the ultimate betrayal at the hands of retired electrician Pelicot, adding that she was speaking on behalf of other victims of sexual assault.
In his first comments after her testimony, Pelicot brazenly revealed how he had once raped her at a gas station while they were driving back from the Ile de Re resort island off France’s Atlantic coast.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, admitted raping his wife Gisele (pictured) at a motorway service station because it was his ‘fantasy’
Dominque Pelicot (pictured) is accused of drugging his ex-wife Gisele and inviting dozens of men to rape her while he watched and filmed them over a decade-long period of hell.
Mrs Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Barbonneau, told the Avignon court that Pelicot had driven there to “offer” her to the truckers, but insisted that “no one else was involved” and that it was just him.
He said, “It was a fantasy of mine.” We were returning from the Ile de Ré and I stopped at a gas station and I raped her.
“No one saw him and he wasn’t in sight of anyone else.”
Defendant Abdelali Dallal, 47, later admitted two counts of raping Ms Pelicot after being driven there by her then partner, who was waiting outside in his car.
Dallal, who was allowed to testify sitting down after suffering a stroke following the 2018 attacks, said: “As I speak now, yes, there were two rapes.”
“But to this day I don’t know why I went there,” he told the court after describing how he was contacted through swing website Coco.fr.
He added that Pelicot had told him not to worry about “wearing a condom” and that he had admitted that he had “drugged his wife.”
When asked for his opinion on Dallal’s testimony, Pelicot said: “First of all, I would like to say how sorry I am to see him in the condition he is in.”
‘I would also like to say that he is the first to tell it like it is. Yes, I told him not to worry about the condom.
It comes after a former prison guard who guarded the Monster of Avignon while in custody became the latest man to testify in the shocking rape trial.
Quentin Hennebert, 34, worked at the jail where Pelicot was held after he was arrested in 2020 for upskirting, before quitting and becoming an ambulance driver.
Hennebert told the Avignon court that he had joined the swinging site Coco.fr, where Pelicot recruited men to abuse Mrs Pelicot, to “sell ecstasy and MDMA” and added: “I’m not proud of myself.”
Mrs Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Barbonneau, told the Avignon court that Pelicot had driven there to “offer” her to the truckers, but insisted that “no one else was involved” and that it was just him.
Earlier this week, Gisele Pelicot bravely took the stand and waived her anonymity to lend her support to other rape victims, telling them: “We don’t have to feel ashamed, they are the ones who should be ashamed.”
Quentin Hennebert testified before the Avignon court that he had joined the couples exchange site Coco.fr, where Dominque Pelicot recruited men to abuse his wife.
He said: “I bought the drugs for 300 euros and was able to sell them for three or four times the price.”
The court heard how Hennebert had visited the Pelicot family home in the village of Mazan in November 2019 while working at the prison and ten months before Pelicot was arrested.
He said: ‘In my work I can see court documents, police investigation material and I saw Pelicot’s name come up.
‘I made the connection with what had happened and thought that sooner or later the police would come knocking on my door. I really haven’t been at peace since I saw the name.
At that point the prosecutor interrupted and asked: ‘So you were at peace when you left the Pelicot house?’
Hennebert, who admitted to being raped, responded: “When I got into my car afterwards, I realized I had made a big mistake and I just wanted to erase it from my memory.”
Ms Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Barbonneau, said: “She is an exceptional woman and we have heard from her how determined she is to make her story heard.”
A judicial sketch of Mrs. Pelicot in the Avignon court, during the trial of her former partner accused of drugging her for almost ten years and inviting strangers to rape her at her home in Mazan.
Before the trial, Ms Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Barbonneau, said: “She is an exceptional woman and we have heard from her how determined she is to make her story heard.”
‘Every day of this trial we see how deep the problem exists in society and what she wants to do is make sure that all the victims are not forgotten.
“He expects nothing from the defendants and cannot accept their excuses.”
He added that the line of defense of some of the accused that it was an “accidental rape” was “inaudible to society.”
