Husband drugged wife, recruited over 70 men to rape her, prosecutors say

The trial of a man accused of repeatedly drugging his wife and recruiting more than 70 men to rape her while she was unconscious opened in Avignon, France, this week, drawing demonstrations outside the courthouse and horror across the country.

Prosecutors say that for nearly a decade Dominique Pelicot, 71, crushed sedating anti-anxiety medication into his wife’s dinners and used online platforms to invite men to sexually assault her in the couple’s home and other locations used by the family.

In an unusual move, the alleged victim, 72, asked that the trial take place in open court, stating that she wanted the world to know what had happened to her, one of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, told the Washington Post in a phone interview Tuesday. And although The Post typically does not name victims of sex crimes, in this instance the woman asked to be identified by her married name, Gisèle Pelicot.

In court on Monday, she faced her now ex-husband and 50 other suspects police have charged as among those who assaulted her between 2011 and 2020.

Dominique Pelicot has not disputed any of the facts of the case, Babonneau said.

His lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, told reporters on Monday that her client was “ashamed of what he did,” according to French newspaper Le Monde. “He recognizes what he did and there has not been an ounce of protest since the beginning,” she added.

Dominique Pelicot has said the men were all aware that his wife was drugged and unconscious, according to Le Monde. Police believe he laid out strict rules, including that the men should not smell of perfume or smoke that might jog his wife awake, and that they should not wear condoms, Babonneau said.

The trial is expected to last several months. Now, he said, his client hopes the case will help raise awareness about the prevalence of what’s known in France as “chemical submission” – or the act of drugging someone without their knowledge and consent as a means to rape or steal from them, among other crimes.

The victim also wants to spark a broader conversation about the risks of violence and sexual abuse that women, especially, face in France, Babonneau said, adding that “she believes that it is also a bit of a trial of society and the place of women in French society.”

The Pelicots were married for more 50 years and had three children, according to French media outlets.

According to Le Monde, investigators say the alleged victim was raped while unconscious at least 92 times by at least 72 people; they have identified and charged 51 of the suspects.

Dominique Pelicot’s activity came under scrutiny in 2020, after three women reported him for allegedly trying to film under their skirts, according to prosecutors. Police arrested him and seized his technological devices, where they found hundreds of photos and videos allegedly showing his wife being sexually assaulted by multiple men, Babonneau said. Many of the files were categorized in a folder labeled “abuse,” according to French media. Police also found photos of the couple’s daughter and two daughters-in-law that appeared to have been taken without consent while they were in the bathroom or sleeping, Babonneau said.

Babonneau said his client had been unaware that she had been repeatedly raped but had experienced troubling symptoms, such as memory and hair loss, an inflamed cervix and pain in her abdomen. She suspected she might have Alzheimer’s or cancer, another one of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told French media.

When police told her what her husband was accused of, “she expressed her complete incomprehension,” Babonneau told The Post. Police warned her they were about to show her distressing images from her husband’s computer, and at first “she didn’t recognize the woman in the images. She didn’t understand who it was, and they told her: ‘It’s you.’”

The abuse left her with at least four sexually transmitted diseases and other physical and psychological scars, Babonneau said.

Dominique Pelicot is also charged with involvement in two cold cases: a rape and murder in 1991 and an attempted rape in 1999. He has denied involvement in the 1991 case but acknowledged being involved in the attempted rape after police matched his DNA collected during the investigation of his wife’s abuse with DNA left at the scene of the other crime, according to French media.