Last Updated on 06/09/2024 by Arun jain
Giselle Pellicote, a 71-year-old French woman, appeared in court in Avignon on Thursday to testify against her husband, 71-year-old Dominique Pellicote.
Husband Dominic has admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his wife between 2011 and 2020, drugging her and inviting dozens of strangers to their home to rape her while he filmed the acts.
The couple’s daughter, who also testified before the court, described her father as “one of the worst sex offenders of the last 20 years”.
DW does not normally publish the names of victims but in this case it is doing so in accordance with Pellicott’s request for public naming in an effort to raise awareness about sexual abuse.
The victim hopes the publicity from the trial can save others from the same fate
The messy case has shocked France, but Gisele Pellicote has said she wants the trial to go public to help other victims of sexual abuse, adding that she hopes her testimony will save others from a similar fate.
Police stumbled upon evidence of the crimes while examining Dominique Pellicote’s phone and computer after a supermarket security guard stopped him while he was filming up women’s skirts in the store.
Police found hours of candid video and thousands of images documenting more than 200 cases of rape by more than 90 strangers. It was then that they contacted Giselle Pellicote, who said she had previously suffered from memory lapses that she did not understand.
At first, Giselle Pellicote told police that her husband was a “great guy,” only to break down when they confronted him with the images they found of her — “Everything fell apart,” she said, “these scenes of brutality, rape.”
Pellicote said she packed “everything left of 50 years of my life” into two suitcases and left her husband shortly after leaving the police station, filing for divorce.
Rape victim: ‘Anonymous phone call could have saved my life’
Police say Dominic Pellicote used a criminal messaging website – since shut down – to invite men to sexually abuse his disabled wife. Toxicologists say Pellicote administered a “cocktail” of drugs to her. A trial medical expert testified that Giselle Pellicote also contracted four sexually transmitted infections because men are not required to wear condoms.
Over a period of two years, police were eventually able to track down most of the 72 suspects they identified in the films. Pellicote and 50 other men — who range in age from 26-74 — now face a felony that carries a 20-year prison sentence.
Although some people have tried to claim that they were manipulated in complicity, Gisele Pellicote categorically rejected such statements: “These men entered my house, respecting the imposed protocol. They didn’t rape me with a gun on my head. They raped my conscience,” she said. “Why didn’t they go to the police station? Even an anonymous call could have saved my life.”
Speaking to the court, Giselle Pellicote said, “It’s unbearable. I have so much to say, that I don’t always know where to start,” adding, “I felt like we were a close couple.”
The trial is expected to last until December 20.
Dominique Pellicote is scheduled to take the stand next week.
js/jcg (AFP, AP)
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