Graphic images of the rape of Gisele Pelicot were shown in the courtroom in Avignon today as the woman bravely took the stand in a trial that continues to rock France.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, had testified Tuesday that he drugged and raped his wife, and accused the dozens of men facing charges alongside him of active participation and complicity.
Lawyers argued Wednesday that showing abuse footage taken from his hard drive would be “helpful in revealing the truth.” Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, left the courtroom at her mother’s request before the footage could be shown.
Twenty-seven disturbing images were shown on mute, apparently showing Pelicot naked and conscious, in “lewd” positions and with her crotch exposed.
She told the court she did not remember the photos being taken and argued that “they are trying to trap me with these photos… to prove that I lured these individuals into my home and that I was giving my consent.”
The defendants have since insisted they were unaware of the plot to sedate and rape Ms Pelicot, with one of them claiming to have seen photos of her naked and conscious in the garden, which they inferred meant “she was okay with it”.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, arrives at the court in Avignon, France, this morning
Lionel Rodriguez, 43, took the stand accused of raping Gisele Pelicot (pictured this morning with his lawyer outside court)
Caroline Darian left the courtroom at her mother’s request (photo from Tuesday)
Gisele Pelicot was pictured in a sketch with her daughter and her lawyer in court yesterday
Defence lawyer Isabelle Crépin-Dehaene argued that the graphic photographs showed Ms Pelicot “awake” and “smiling”.
‘Not all women would agree to such photos. They show that there was a request from the husband that the woman was perfectly aware of.
‘I deduce that the Pelicot couple played their own sexual game.’
Lionel Rodriguez, 43, was among those who took the stand Thursday accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while she was in a semi-conscious state.
He claimed he believed Gisele was involved in some sort of “game” and told the court: “My biggest mistake from the beginning was not asking to speak to Gisele, but it seemed impossible to me that she was not in on the game.
‘Pelicot sent me pictures of Gisele naked in the garden, but she was awake and made me think she was okay with it.’
Rodriguez said his wife left him after his involvement in the case became known and later approached Pelicot, 71, to apologize for her actions.
Dressed in a black bomber jacket and dark jeans, Rodriguez said: ‘I never wanted to hurt you but I did, I want to ask for your forgiveness.
‘I can imagine your nightmare, it’s horrible to think that I’m part of it. My apologies won’t change anything, but I wanted to tell you.’
Ms. Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity, simply stared at him and remained impassive as she sat a few feet away from him.
Rodriguez met Pelicot through a now-closed forum called Coco.fr and the two men exchanged messages over a period of time in 2018.
Attorneys for Rodriguez and the others say the men believed Pelicot was an accomplice, a willing participant, and that they were duped.
Rodriguez told the court that when he arrived, Ms. Pelicot was lying naked on a bed and appeared to be asleep.
He said: ‘Pelicot told me to lie down next to her and I caressed her, I penetrated her but during the act I slipped and she made me leave the room.’
A 72-year-old retired marine firefighter, the oldest of the 50 men accused of raping the wife of the Monster of Avignon, also gave his testimony on Thursday.
Grandfather Jacques Cubeau denies raping Gisele, the wife of Dominque Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity in a trial that has made headlines around the world.
And like Lionel Rodriguez before him, he apologized, saying, ‘Ma’am, when I found out what you had suffered, I was devastated.
“Having been involved in all this has destroyed me. I hope you and your family get through this.”
Cubeau told the court he was bisexual and had a “libertine attitude” towards sex, but had not had a partner since being released from custody in 2022 following his arrest.
When the prosecutor asked him what his relationship was with his children, Cubeau replied: “Excellent.”
When told that they had refused to appear as witnesses, Cubeau said: “I got myself into this, it’s up to me to answer for it.”
However, he said he believed it was “a scenario set up by the couple” and when he arrived he found Mrs Pelicot asleep “with her mouth open”.
Cubeau said: ‘When we first spoke, he quickly told me: ‘My wife takes sleeping pills at night and when she’s asleep, the men come.’
‘I think it’s a fantasy of theirs, but when he invites me to go to his house, I get the impression that he’s a shy woman in a swinger couple.’
He admitted that he had “performed oral sex” on Ms. Pelicot, but did not use tongue.
He said he had “simply kissed her” in an intimate area and claimed it did not count as “penetrative sex”, adding that she had “kept her underwear on”.
During police questioning, Cubeau insisted he did not have penetrative sex with Ms Pelicot and, gasping, continued to deny it in court.
Mr. Pelicot gave his long-awaited testimony earlier this week after a period of absence.
This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Gisele Pelicot, left, and her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, right, during their trial at the Avignon courthouse in Avignon on Tuesday.
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over a 10-year period
Ms Pelicot’s husband, Dominique, has been dubbed “the Monster of Avignon” since he admitted drugging his wife and allowing 82 strangers to rape her in their marital bed.
Pelicot had met the men online and shared his vile sexual fantasies online before inviting them to his family home to rape his wife of more than 40 years.
Police were able to view footage of the attacks recorded by Pelicot and stored on his computer and identified 50 suspects. Another 32 unknown men who raped Ms Pelicot remain unidentified.
Finally, Pelicot suggested that he go to his house in Mazan, near Avignon, in the south of France, so that he could sleep with Gisele.
Rodriguez said: ‘He talked about pills, but it was not clear whether he was giving them to her or she was taking them.’
Pelicot is accused of drugging his wife over a ten-year period and allowing the 50 accused men to rape her while he filmed the abuse.
Pelicot spoke in court earlier this week, admitting he was “a rapist” and insisting his wife was not part of the plan.
Police first arrested him in September 2020 for secretly filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket in nearby Carpentras.
They searched his devices and found hundreds of pornographic videos and images.
It was while in custody that Pelicot informed them there was a hard drive called ‘Abuse’ and on it were 3,800 photos and videos of his wife being raped between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, of whom 51 have been identified as aged between 26 and 73.
Eighteen are in custody and are being held in court in a reinforced cage, while the others, including Rodriguez, are out on bail and enter and leave the building wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts to avoid being recognized.
Pelicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta in her dinner and the alleged attackers include civil servants, a journalist, prison guards, a retired firefighter, a city councillor and truck drivers.
The assault took place in the southern French town of Mazan and was only discovered after the man was caught pulling down women’s skirts in a local supermarket, prompting officers to search his home.
Mr. Pélicot appears in court in Avignon on September 11
In a separate case, Pelicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old real estate agent in Paris in 1991.
The former electrician, who sits in a wheelchair surrounded by prison guards during the hearing in Avignon which began earlier this month, also admitted rape in 1999 after DNA evidence linked him to the attack.
The case is expected to last until December and fourteen of the defendants have admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
