Gisele Pelicot: Husband ‘destroyed’ and betrayed me, says woman at centre of France mass rape trial
The woman at the centre of a mass rape trial in France has said she cannot comprehend how the “perfect man” betrayed her – as she spoke in court for the first time.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, was sedated and raped by her former husband Dominique Pelicot.
For almost a decade, he crushed sleeping pills and other anti-anxiety drugs into her food and drink and allegedly recruited men online to rape her.
He’s already admitted his crimes, carried out between 2011 and 2020, and said he organised dozens of men to come to the house and rape her while she was comatose.
Supported by family, Ms Pelicot was applauded as she arrived at court on Wednesday.
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The woman at the centre of the France mass rape trial
She spoke directly to her ex-husband during the testimony
“I still don’t understand how this man who was the perfect man could do this, could destroy my life and betray me,” she said.
“I haven’t been able to look Dominique Pelicot in the face – but today I talk to him,” she said as part of a statement at the mid-point of the trial.
“We have 50 years together. I was a happy wife; we have three kids and seven grandkids.
“You were a good husband and a good man, and I trusted you. I never doubted you,” she said, beginning to cry.
But this good man, she told the court, was responsible for her being raped 100 times.
Ms Pelicot expressed anger and disbelief that he allegedly allowed people in their bedroom when he knew she was against swinging.
Demonstrations in support of Gisele Pelicot have been taking place across France. Pic: AP
When she became sick, he accompanied her to the gynaecologist but nobody suspected a thing, she told the court.
“My life has been turned upside down. You chose to do this,” she told him.
The judge asked about their mealtime routine, referring to evidence that Dominique Pelicot had slipped drugs into her food.
Gisele Pelicot said he had made lots of meals and often brought her ice cream afterwards.
“I thought ‘wow’, I’m lucky to have a husband who looks after me like this,” she told the court, explaining she was totally unaware the food was drugged.
She said she must have fallen asleep quickly, as she often woke up tired and in her pyjamas.
If she was raped in the day, she said her husband must have drugged her orange juice.
During questioning, she was asked if she thought her ex-husband had acted out of vengeance.
She said she had considered he might have been trying to punish her after she had a lover once in their relationship, around 30 years ago.
A sketch of Dominique Pelicot during the trial last month. Pic: Reuters
Ms Pelicot also said her former husband had talked about mistresses.
Forty-nine of the 51 men on trial, including Dominique Pelicot, are accused of rape, one of attempted rape and one of sexual assault.
A few admit the charges but say they did not intend to commit rape.
Most, however, deny the allegations, with some claiming they believed they were part of a game between the couple.
The men are aged between 26 and 74 and most lived in southeast France. Among them are a journalist, soldier and lorry driver.
They face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
‘I am a destroyed woman’
Gisele Pelicot said she had waived her right to anonymity and allowed videos of the attacks to be shown in court because “it makes people see the truth”.
During her statement, she also addressed the women who had given evidence in support of the co-defendants.
“When I hear mothers, sisters and partners talk about their men as normal… the profile of a rapist can be normal, can be a friend or a family man,” she said.
“Can you imagine what that does to me? That I was accused of pretending to be asleep and that I was aware of what was happening. It’s violent.”
She said she was a “destroyed woman” and was getting psychological help.
Gisele Pelicot pictured at court on 16 October. Pic: AP
Despite the trauma, she said she wanted to offer hope and strength to other victims: “I wanted that all victims of rape could say, ‘well if Gisele can do it, we can do it’.
“Because when we are raped, we have shame, but it’s not for us to be ashamed, but for those men,” she declared.
She said she was hurt when a defence lawyer asked her at what point the sexual activity was rape.
“They did this to an unconscious woman. Rape is a rape,” she said, becoming emotional.
Reacting to some defendants apologising, she said it would have been apparent when they touched her that she was not conscious.
“They are apologising to themselves, not to me,” she said.
‘He found sex elsewhere’
Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard from the partners of some of the men accused of raping the 72-year-old.
The wife of one said that because she refused him sex “he found it elsewhere”.
The 45-year-old described her husband Jean Luc-L as “a good husband and father”.
She said their life was normal, adding: “He never hit me. I often refused sex. He insisted but then if I refused, he would be unhappy and then leave”.
Recalling when police told her about the claims, the mother of two said: “I was in shock, but I think that because I refused him sex, as a man, that’s why he found it elsewhere.”
Hearing the comment, Ms Pelicot expressed surprise through her lawyer.
“I understand Gisele’s position,” the co-defendant’s wife said.
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The lawyer asked her about Ms Pelicot’s surprise at her comment: “It’s because I kept refusing and for a long time,” she replied, prompting audible gasps from some in court.
“I understand what my husband did to Gisele is unacceptable and I share her pain,” she said.
The woman said she had not left her husband and still visited him in prison.
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Another woman, the ex-partner of Florian R, described him as “a normal guy”.
“We were good, we were normal,” she said, explaining they have children but split up in 2019.
The 37-year-old said their sex life had been “normal”, “basic” and did not involve fantasies.
Talking about when she heard he was being investigated, she said: “Initially I thought he was in trouble with the police because he was with a girl who I thought was too young… she was 14 years old.”
She said they still talked on the phone due to their children, who she had taken to visit him in jail.
The trial in Avignon is expected to continue until the end of the year.
After all those raised hopes of peace, Ukraine has been hit by the second-worst night of Russian air attacks since the war began.
So much for diplomacy, despite the Alaska summit, then the Washington DC meeting.
The Kremlin says it was aiming at military targets, but yet again, the pictures tell a very different story.
Follow latest: UK summons Putin’s ambassador
Firefighters work at the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic: AP
One civilian building after another was hit, more than a dozen people were killed, and British Council and EU buildings were also damaged.
So what’s going on? Why is Vladimir Putin doing it?
Because he can.
The Russian president thinks he’s winning this war, and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that he’s using diplomacy to play for time while he carries on beating down the Ukrainians’ will to win.
And at the moment, no one is stopping him
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At least 14 killed in Kyiv attack
Ukraine is hitting back, particularly at Russia‘s oil installations, more of them going up in thick black smoke, after being hit by long-range Ukrainian drones.
It is taking a heavy toll on Putin’s ‘Achilles heel’, but on its own, analysts don’t expect it will be enough to persuade him to end this war.
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British Council building hit in Kyiv
The West can wring its hands in condemnation.
But it’s divided between Europe that wants a ceasefire and much more severe sanctions, and Donald Trump, who, it seems, does not – strangely always willing to sympathise with the Russians more than Ukraine.
He’s back to blaming Ukraine for starting the war, saying earlier in the week that Kyiv should not have got into a war it had no chance of winning.
It is a grotesque perversion of history. Ukraine, of course, had no choice but to fight to defend itself when it was invaded in an act of unprovoked aggression.
Every time the US president has condemned Russia for these kinds of attacks, he has never followed through and done nothing to punish them.
Rescue workers carry an injured woman after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic: AP
More worryingly for the Ukrainians, the Russians are getting the upper hand in the drones war, taking Iranian technology and souping it up into faster-moving drones that the Ukrainians are having increasing difficulty bringing down.
They expect as many as a thousand drones a night coming their way by the winter, and many, many more innocents to die.
Next week, Putin will join Chinese and North Korean leaders in a summit in Beijing, both supporting his war in Ukraine.
(L-R) Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. Pics: Reuters
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A war that began as one man’s mad idea has, in three and a half years, metastasised into a titanic struggle between east and west, fought increasingly with machines in a dystopian evolution of war.
If Mr Trump is not prepared to use his power to bring this war to an end, what will another three and a half years of his presidency bring?
It is a chilling question.
World
Boy, 8, and girl, 10, killed in US Catholic school shooting named – as father brands attacker ‘a coward’
The families of two children killed in the US Catholic school shooting have said their “hearts are broken” and branded the attacker a “coward”.
Fletcher Merkel who was eight and 10-year-old Harper Moyski were killed during mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Eighteen other people were injured, including children aged between six and 15 and three adults in their 80s.
Police said Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman, opened fire with a rifle through the windows of the school’s church as children sat in pews.
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New details released of US school shooting
‘Our hearts are broken’
Harper’s parents, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, remembered her as “a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her”.
“Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss. As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain,” their statement said.
They urged leaders and communities to “take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country.”
“Change is possible, and it is necessary – so that Harper’s story does not become yet another in a long line of tragedies,” the statement added.
The family of Fletcher Merkel said there was a ‘hole in our hearts’. Pic: Family handout/AP
‘Fletcher loved his family’
In a statement reported by Sky’s US partner network NBC News, Fletcher’s father Jesse Merkel blamed the “coward” killer for why the boy’s family can’t “hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming”.
He said: “Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking, and any sports that he was allowed to play.
“While the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that in time, our family can find healing.”
Mr Merkel also praised “the swift and heroic actions of children and adults alike from inside the church”.
“Without these people and their selfless actions, this could have been a tragedy of many magnitudes more. For these people, I am thankful,” he added.
Families and loved ones reunite at the scene after the shooting. Pic: Reuters
Mayor calls for assault weapon ban
It comes after Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called for a statewide and federal ban on assault weapons, a day after the deadly school shooting.
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Minneapolis mayor urges assault weapons ban
“Thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it. It’s on all of us to see this through,” the mayor said at a news conference. “We need a statewide and a federal ban on assault weapons.
“We need a statewide and a federal ban on high-capacity magazines. There is no reason that someone should be able to reel off 30 shots before they even have to reload.
“We’re not talking about your father’s hunting rifle gear. We’re talking about guns that are built to pierce armour and kill people.”
Meanwhile, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara gave an update on the investigation, saying the suspect had fired 116 rifle rounds into the church.
“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” he added, before saying the killer “fantasised” about the plans of other mass shooting attackers and wanted to “obtain notoriety”.
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Thomas Klemond, interim CEO of Minneapolis’s main trauma hospital Hennepin Healthcare, said at an earlier news conference that the hospital was treating nine patients injured in the shooting.
One child at the hospital was in a critical condition, he added.
Children’s Minnesota Hospital also said that three children remain in its care as of Thursday morning.
Police have released new details about the killer in the US Catholic school shooting – including that they “idolised” mass murderers and they wanted to “watch children suffer”.
Two children, aged eight and 10, were killed during mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
The victims have been named as Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, – click here to read more
Eighteen other people were injured, including children aged between six and 15 and three adults in their 80s.
Police said Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman, opened fire with a rifle through the windows of the school’s church as children sat in pews.
Robin Westman
Almost 120 rifle rounds fired, police chief says
In a news conference on Thursday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the attacker fired 116 rifle rounds into the church.
“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” he added.
The police chief said the killer “fantasised” about the plans of other mass shooting attackers and wanted to “obtain notoriety”.
When asked about the attacker obtaining the firearms used legally, Mr O’Hara said that they did not have a criminal history or any diagnosed mental health disorders.
While they had potentially concerning social media posts, the police chief added that there was no evidence to suggest that Westman was legally barred from purchasing a firearm.
People mourn outside the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Pic: Reuters
Suspect ‘wanted to watch children suffer’
Joe Thompson, acting US attorney for Minnesota, also said evidence recovered of the killer’s plans showed “pure indiscriminate hate” and that they “idolised some of the most notorious school shooters and mass murderers in our country’s history”.
“I won’t dignify the shooter’s words by repeating them,” Mr Thompson added. “They are horrific and vile, but in short, the shooter wanted to watch children suffer.”
Earlier, the mayor of Minneapolis called for a statewide and federal ban on assault weapons after the deadly attack, saying “thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it”.
“There is no reason that someone should be able to reel off 30 shots before they even have to reload,” Jacob Frey said.
“We’re not talking about your father’s hunting rifle gear. We’re talking about guns that are built to pierce armour and kill people.”
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Minneapolis mayor urges assault weapons ban
Thomas Klemond, interim CEO of Minneapolis’s main trauma hospital Hennepin Healthcare, said at a news conference that the hospital was treating nine patients injured in the shooting.
One child at the hospital was in a critical condition, he added.
Children’s Minnesota Hospital also said that three children remain in its care as of Thursday morning.
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In a post on Facebook, the hospital said “there are no words to describe the overwhelming pain many are feeling”, adding: “We feel that pain with you.
“To the entire Annunciation community, you have our deepest condolences. During this time of unimaginable grief and loss, we want you to know that we at Children’s Minnesota are with you.
“We will always be here to care for you. And in this moment, we hurt alongside you.”
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