The 71-year-old woman from France has testified in a harrowing trial that has unveiled a decade of abuse orchestrated by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, and over 50 other men.
Speaking in a courtroom in Avignon, Gisele Pelicot recounted the traumatic moment when police revealed the extent of her husband’s crimes, which included drugging her to facilitate sexual assaults while she was unconscious.
In her nearly 90-minute testimony, Gisele described a life marked by mysterious health issues, including memory lapses that led her to suspect she might have Alzheimer’s disease. Her world shattered in November 2020 when investigators showed her graphic images of the abuse, which her husband had filmed.
‘I wanted to disappear’
“I only wanted one thing and that was to disappear. I told myself: ‘I am going to get in my car with my dog and end it all,'” Madame Pelicot told the court, according to Daily Mail. She went on to recount how her adult children were terrified she might kill herself before they could reach her. “When I told my sons about this, I don’t think they really understood; they were withdrawn… I think they were in a state of shock. They said: ‘Don’t say such silly things.'”
“[That] evening, the children called constantly saying ‘don’t disappear’… they were worried I might die.” “For me, everything is falling apart. Everything I have built up over 50 years,” she stated, expressing the profound emotional impact of the revelations. Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to the charges, was initially caught filming upskirt videos of women in a supermarket, prompting police to investigate his digital devices.
200 instances of rape by 90 strangers
This investigation uncovered thousands of images and videos documenting the Gisele’s abuse, including around 200 instances of rape, primarily committed by her husband and over 90 by strangers recruited through an adult website. The assaults occurred between July 2011 and October 2020, mostly in their home in Mazan, Provence.
During her testimony, Gisele stressed that she had never consented to any of the acts, firmly rejecting defence claims that she and her husband had a consensual libertine relationship. “Don’t talk to me about sex scenes. These are rape scenes,” she asserted, underscoring her victimization and the horror of her experiences. She expressed her disgust at the situation, stating, “I feel disgusted… I’ve lost ten years of my life” and described herself as a “field of ruins”.
Gisele said, “I’m speaking for every woman who’s been drugged without knowing it,” and called for accountability from her abusers, urging them to “take responsibility for your actions”. She further added that the police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes.
The trial, which began on September 2 is expected to last four months, with Pelicot’s husband and 50 other men facing charges of aggravated rape, potentially leading to sentences of up to 20 years in prison. Among the defendants, 18 are currently in custody, while others are free pending trial. The final suspect, who remains at large, will be tried in absentia.
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