The Fort Worth Press - French women 'stunned' as partners accused in mass rape trial

USD -
AED 3.673005
AFN 68.376617
ALL 90.089015
AMD 387.23979
ANG 1.802698
AOA 909.050973
ARS 992.749815
AUD 1.508273
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.700756
BAM 1.794822
BBD 2.019547
BDT 119.529407
BGN 1.794945
BHD 0.376855
BIF 2906.488024
BMD 1
BND 1.316601
BOB 6.911994
BRL 5.789701
BSD 1.000275
BTN 84.131412
BWP 13.300909
BYN 3.273378
BYR 19600
BZD 2.016151
CAD 1.38676
CDF 2844.000234
CHF 0.86426
CLF 0.034637
CLP 955.730127
CNY 7.103898
CNH 7.119295
COP 4420.5
CRC 511.425163
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 101.189329
CZK 23.247016
DJF 178.113242
DKK 6.844799
DOP 60.255116
DZD 133.04107
EGP 49.115103
ERN 15
ETB 120.405341
EUR 0.91771
FJD 2.24125
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.769325
GEL 2.734983
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.403597
GIP 0.765169
GMD 71.510825
GNF 8626.306564
GTQ 7.719627
GYD 209.259429
HKD 7.771855
HNL 25.226441
HRK 6.88903
HTG 131.623383
HUF 375.249017
IDR 15767.3
ILS 3.747395
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.12015
IQD 1310.268881
IRR 42104.999844
ISK 136.669757
JEP 0.765169
JMD 158.145895
JOD 0.709097
JPY 152.022503
KES 129.029927
KGS 86.172405
KHR 4066.256768
KMF 452.505413
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1379.77052
KWD 0.30631
KYD 0.833532
KZT 490.419381
LAK 21850.968156
LBP 89570.523997
LKR 293.117372
LRD 191.548133
LSL 17.429544
LTL 2.952741
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.815131
MAD 9.832429
MDL 17.86455
MGA 4595.760301
MKD 56.459976
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 8.00624
MRU 39.769109
MUR 46.030375
MVR 15.398743
MWK 1734.422318
MXN 20.194503
MYR 4.345499
MZN 63.907249
NAD 17.429384
NGN 1661.719831
NIO 36.808296
NOK 10.998845
NPR 134.610443
NZD 1.667045
OMR 0.384914
PAB 1.000184
PEN 3.769421
PGK 4.01215
PHP 58.335976
PKR 277.93879
PLN 4.00106
PYG 7821.490516
QAR 3.64544
RON 4.566296
RSD 107.396987
RUB 97.449087
RWF 1370.377168
SAR 3.756693
SBD 8.306221
SCR 13.593052
SDG 601.500729
SEK 10.729585
SGD 1.316545
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.72497
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 571.625218
SRD 34.90499
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.75203
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.425897
THB 33.665496
TJS 10.652473
TMT 3.51
TND 3.093265
TOP 2.342098
TRY 34.340101
TTD 6.784436
TWD 31.943029
TZS 2693.372988
UAH 41.484918
UGX 3672.570432
UYU 41.617341
UZS 12777.946021
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 43.778445
VND 25345
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 601.96109
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.749381
XOF 601.96109
XPF 109.44397
YER 249.849855
ZAR 17.476299
ZMK 9001.193685
ZMW 26.98082
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    5.4100

    66.41

    +8.15%

  • JRI

    0.1140

    13.214

    +0.86%

  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.71

    +0.28%

  • GSK

    -0.3400

    36.63

    -0.93%

  • SCS

    0.0000

    12.25

    0%

  • NGG

    0.5940

    65.044

    +0.91%

  • BCC

    -2.4650

    131.795

    -1.87%

  • RIO

    0.4950

    65.505

    +0.76%

  • BTI

    0.3350

    35.445

    +0.95%

  • CMSD

    0.0600

    24.98

    +0.24%

  • RYCEF

    0.1500

    7.25

    +2.07%

  • RELX

    0.7650

    47.825

    +1.6%

  • BCE

    -0.0400

    29.08

    -0.14%

  • VOD

    0.0850

    9.405

    +0.9%

  • BP

    0.2950

    30.025

    +0.98%

  • AZN

    -5.3400

    66.09

    -8.08%

French women 'stunned' as partners accused in mass rape trial
French women 'stunned' as partners accused in mass rape trial / Photo: © AFP

French women 'stunned' as partners accused in mass rape trial

The wives and girlfriends of dozens of men on trial in France accused of raping another woman while she was drugged by her husband have reacted with anger and disbelief, although some say they will stand by the accused.

Text size:

In a court case that has shocked France, Dominique Pelicot, 71, has admitted to drugging his then wife Gisele with sedatives so that strangers could sexually abuse her in her own bed for almost a decade until 2020.

Another 50 men, aged 26 to 74, are also on trial in the southern city of Avignon accused of responding to his invitation to rape her.

Some, including Pelicot, are in custody, and one is being tried in absentia, but 32 of the defendants are attending as free men.

Among the women who have testified at the trial, Vanessa P. said she no longer had any respect for her former partner Quentin H., 34, who was a prison guard when he allegedly abused Gisele Pelicot.

"When you see what they are accusing him of, you start doubting everything," said the childcare worker, accusing him of being "manipulative".

Emilie O., 33, similarly described her ex-partner Hugues M., a 39-year-old charged with "attempted rape" in the trial.

"I thought I was living a peaceful and fulfilling life, but I was wrong," she said, adding she would always fear that she too was raped.

Emilie O. separated from her partner in 2020, when police uncovered the years-long abuse of Gisele Pelicot and she discovered Hugues M. had had several affairs.

- 'He was always respectful' -

Gisele Pelicot, now 71, has become a feminist icon at home and abroad since the trial started in September, refusing to be ashamed and demanding the trial be open to the public.

Like her, Cilia M. was also drugged and raped.

Her husband Jean-Pierre M., 63, is the only defendant in the trial not accused of abusing Gisele Pelicot.

Instead he and Dominique Pelicot have been charged with repeatedly drugging and sexually assaulting Cilia M. between 2015 and 2018, using the same method.

"He was wonderful, but he destroyed us," said the mother of his five children, one of whom is disabled.

Cilia M. told the court she would "never forgive" her husband, who has claimed his own father sexually abused him as a child.

She has since separated from him, but has not pressed charges in order to "protect" her children.

Corinne M. had already separated from her husband, former builder Thierry P., 54, when the Pelicot case came to light, after the death of their son in a traffic accident had driven him to become alcoholic.

She was confused by his behaviour.

When it came to sex, "he was always respectful. When it was no, it was no... I really don't understand why he is here today," she said at the trial.

Veronique Le Goaziou, a sociologist specialising in the subject of sexual abuse, told AFP partners of defendants were usually "stunned".

They often struggled to imagine the alleged violence as it went "beyond their understanding", she said.

"In some cases... they simply cannot or will not believe it."

- 'It's not him' -

Samira T. said she was still trying to understand why her partner Jerome V. six times raped Gisele Pelicot in her home in the southern town of Mazan in 2020.

But she would stand by him to "support" him.

"If we met it's no coincidence," she said. "I was given this mission."

Jerome V., a 46-year-old former minimart employee who claims he has slept with 89 people, told the court he was unable to control his sexuality.

Samira T. said that she had sought to satisfy his high libido, complying with his requests for sex almost every day "at 10 at night" and agreeing to having naked pictures taken of her or going on walks in the nude.

"He had no reason to go look elsewhere," she said, crying.

Another woman, Hien B., blamed herself.

During a period when she was looking after her sick mother, she had brushed Jean-Luc L. off consistently when he wanted sex.

"I think that, as a man, he decided to turn elsewhere," she said.

Among the partners of the accused in Avignon, Sonia R. has been dating Patrice N. for just over a year.

She said she wanted to look forward to the future.

"I support him and trust him wholeheartedly," she said.

Lucie B. also stood by Gregory S., her partner of seven years. She is pregnant with their third child.

"I don't see him as a rapist. It's not him," she said.

After they met in 2017, she said, he had told her about visiting the Pelicot home earlier the same year.

"He told me it was a husband and his wife's idea of fun, that she was drunk," she added.

S.Rocha--TFWP