Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing
Gisèle Pelicot has addressed her husband in court after he admitted to drugging her and letting 83 people rape her.
Last month, the 72-year-old French woman became the center of a mass sexual abuse trial being held in Avignon, France.
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It emerged that Ms Pelicot was sedated against her will and raped numerous times by her now ex-husband Dominique Pelicot over a near-decade period.
He is said to have inserted sleeping pills and other drugs into her food, and allegedly spoke to men online to invite them into their home to rape her unconscious body; crimes of which he would record and store on a hard drive labelled 'abuse'.
Mr Pelicot - whose gristly crimes were discovered after he was arrested for upskirting in a supermarket - has admitted the charges for the horrific crimes, saying he recruited men to sexually assault his wife.
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'83 other men' are said to be involved, with 51 one of them - including Mr Pelicot - currently on trial in France.
Ms Pelicot arrived in court on Wednesday (23 October) to a huge round of applause, according to Sky News. And she spoke directly to her former husband during the testimony.
She said: "So many times, I said to myself how lucky am I to have you at my side. He took me to neurologist, to scanners when I was worried. He also went with me to the gynaecologist. For me, he was someone I trusted entirely.
"How can the perfect man have got to this? How could you have betrayed me to this point? How could you have brought these strangers into my bedroom?"
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Ms Pelicot continued: "The profile of a rapist is not someone met in a car-park late at night. A rapist can also be in the family, among our friends.
"When I saw one of the accused on the stand last week who came into my bedroom and house without consentment.
"This man, who came to rape an unconscious, 57-year-old woman – I am also a mother and grandmother ... I could have been his grandmother. I am a woman who is totally destroyed, and don’t know how I can pick myself up from this."
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Of the 51 men on trial, 49 are facing charges of rape, while one is accused of attempted rape and one of sexual assault.
The men are aged between 26 and 74, with most denying the allegations - though one admitted that he thought she was dead in shocking testimony.
Some claimed they believed they were part of a game with Mr and Ms Pelicot, while a few admitted charges but state they didn't intent to rape Pelicot. If found guilty, the men involved could face up to 20 years behind bars.
The trial is expected to last until the end of the year.
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If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.
Topics: Sexual Abuse, France, News, Crime
Callum Jones