The youngest of 50 men accused of raping a French woman who was drugged by her husband first visited the house of horrors on the day his daughter was born, a court has heard.
Joan Kwai, 26, is due to give evidence today alongside six other men accused of rape: Andy Rodriguez, 37, Hugues Malago, 39, Husamettin Dogan, 43, Mathieu Dartus, 53, and Fabien Sotton, 39.
Judge Roger Arata ruled last week that the 50 defendants will be divided into four groups and heard in groups of six to try to reduce the number of people in court.
Retired electrician Dominique Pelicot, 71, is accused of drugging his unsuspecting wife Gisele, also 71, over nearly a decade so men could rape and abuse her.
Ms Pelicot has become a symbol for rape victims in France and has bravely given up her anonymity during the trial that has grabbed headlines around the world.
Gisele Pelicot has become a symbol for rape victims in France and has bravely given up her anonymity during the trial.
Dominique Pelicot, who allegedly drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot, appears during his trial with 50 co-defendants at the courthouse in Avignon, France, on September 17, 2024.
Kwai, the first of the defendants to testify today, was born in Guyana but moved to the Vacluse region of France as a teenager.
The father was only 23 years old when he was arrested at the army barracks where he was serving.
She first went to the house in November 2019, the day her daughter was born.
He then returned again and admits having planned a third visit, which Dominique Pelicot cancelled at the last minute.
Before investigators, he first stated that he had not asked whether Mrs. Pelicot had given her consent.
Later, when faced with the photographs, he admitted that she was unconscious and that it was a case of rape.
At the beginning of the trial he said that he “recognized the facts, but not the intention.”
Fourteen of the men on trial have admitted their involvement in the horrific case, while the rest deny the charges, insisting they were “duped into a plot” by the couple.
Eighteen men are in custody and, as has become the norm since the case began, Ms Pelicot was greeted with warm applause as she entered the court building in Avignon, southern France.
Gisele Pelicot (C) acknowledges the applause of the public upon her arrival at the Avignon courthouse during the trial.
While those out on bail – including a carpenter, a builder, a retired firefighter, a council employee, a prison officer and a journalist – were greeted with jeers and jeers.
Extra security has been requested for the trial after one of the defendants pushed a French television crew while being filmed, and a lawyer was required to intervene to calm the situation.
The attacks took place at the couple’s rented home in the picturesque village of Mazan, 40 minutes away in the Provence countryside near the iconic Mount Ventoux.
Pelicot was finally arrested in September 2020 after security personnel saw him stripping four women in a supermarket in Carpentras, just a few minutes from Mazan.
A search of his home revealed thousands of photos of his wife in a computer file marked ‘Abuse’ and prosecutors say he sedated his wife between 2011 and 2020 so that dozens of men could rape her.
In another case, Pelicot has been accused of raping and murdering a 23-year-old real estate agent in Paris in 1991.
Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over a 10-year period
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed against Ms Pelicot by 82 men, of whom 51, including her husband, have been identified.
Pelicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta in her dinner.
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, also admitted to a rape in 1999 after DBNA evidence linked him to the case.
Authorities expect the case to last until December.