CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses rape.
Dominique Pelicot — the man accused of drugging his wife and recruiting strangers to rape her — has admitted to all sexual assault charges against him and pleaded for his family to forgive him.
In court on Tuesday, Pelicot was willing to “admit to the charges in their entirety”.
“I am a rapist just like all the others in this room … I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did,” he said, according to French media.
“I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.”
His former wife and the victim of nearly a decade of sexual assault and rape, Gisele Pelicot also appeared in court.
“For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined was capable of these acts of rape,” she told the court.
According to her lawyers, the victim wanted her trial to be public in order to shed light on sexual violence and abuse.
The 71-year-old man was initially arrested for trying to film up a woman’s skirt, but it was later alleged that he offered sex with his wife on fetish websites and filmed the abuse without her consciousness or consent.
Messages shown in court detailed Pelicot asking “for someone to abuse my wife asleep” and telling a man that “you’re like me, you like rape mode.”
According to court documents, investigators discovered 300 photographs and videos of the acts — which spanned nearly a decade.
His then-wife was completely unaware of the abuse, despite having suffered gynaecological issues and inexplicable memory loss, and only found out when police found photographic evidence of the crimes while investigating his attempt at upskirting a woman in an unrelated crime.
As part of the investigation, police found 300 photographs and a video of the crimes on his computer.
Images of his adult daughter asleep in her underwear were also found on the hard drive and while he claims he “never touched” his daughter, she believes her father drugged her as well.
The man admitted to drugging and raping his wife two to three times a week, which is more often than the photographic evidence suggested.
Pelicot faces several charges including rape, gang rape and various other crimes relating to privacy and dissemination of sexual images.
50 other men are also accused of raping Ms Pelicot while she was in a state that has been compared to a “deep coma”. While some defendants have argued that they didn’t know she didn’t consent and thought she was just pretending to be asleep, Mr Pelicot asserted that “they all knew.”
If found guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in jail.
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
The post Dominique Pelicot, The Man Who Drugged His Wife & Allowed 70+ Men To Rape Her, Admits To Charges appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
