The security guard who caught Dominique Pelicot upskirting women at a supermarket, which led to the discovery of his abusive crimes, has recalled the “terror” and “fear” in his eyes.
Thibaut Rey, 38, spotted the serial rapist taking images of three women at the LeClerc shopping centre and confronted him, holding his phone until police arrived to make their arrest.
Dominique Pelicot was found guilty by a French court of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body in a case that has horrified the world.
All of Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants were also found guilty of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, while their victim, Gisèle Pelicot, sat in the packed courtroom to hear the sentencing, having waived her right to anonymity.
Gisèle, 72, has become a symbol of female courage and resilience during the three-month trial and crowds of supporters outside the courthouse in the southern city of Avignon cheered as she appeared after the verdicts had been read out.
On 12 September 2020, Mr Ray said he watched Pelicot on CCTV and saw he positioned the camera on his phone to film the underwear of unsuspecting women.
“We worked out that the phone was jutting out of this bag, and he was filming up their skirts,” Mr Ray told the Daily Mail.
“We saw him do this to three women, and he was obviously pretty good at it.
“It didn't look like the first time he had done it.”
When the 38-year-old security guard located the first victim, she refused to file a report because she was pressed for time, he said.
But when his surveillance room coworker informed him that he was still involved with another woman, he made the decision to face him head-on. He said he used a "strong-arm" method to make the victim realise how severe the offence was. Mr Ray grabbed Pelicot’s phone and held him by the arm until the police arrived.
“I was thinking of my mother and sister, who shop here, so it got a bit personal,” he told the Daily Mail.
“Pelicot didn’t resist. He froze with terror. I saw the fear in his eyes.”
Dominique Pelicot, who was married to Gisele for 50 years, had pleaded guilty to the charges and a panel of five judges sentenced him to the maximum 20 years in jail, as requested by prosecutors.
The court found 46 of the other defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault, handing down sentences of between three and 15 years in jail, less than the four-to-18 years demanded by the prosecution.
