Featured Image Credit: CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: France, Europe, Domestic Abuse
Joe Yates
Topics: France, Europe, Domestic Abuse
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
The man at the centre of an abuse trial in France has taken to the stand to explain what started the heinous crimes he's accused of.
A French man has been dubbed the 'Monster of Avignon' after being accused of drugging his wife of 50 years and allowing 72 men to rape her a total of 92 times over a period of 10 years, as well as raping her himself.
The 71-year-old is on trial in France along with 50 others, accused of allowing strangers to come into his house and rape his wife Gisele Pélicot between 2011 and 2020 while she was in a 'near-coma-like state'.
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Gisele has waived her right to anonymity, saying she 'strives for complete publicity' until the end of the trial, which is due to last until December.
Yesterday (September 17) was the first time the pensioner, who lived with his wife in the village of Mazan, in the south of France, took to the dock.
He admitted to all the charges against him, before explaining why he committed the heinous acts which would see him drugging his wife multiple times a week, judges said.
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Dominique told the court: "I am a rapist like the others in this room.
"They all knew, they cannot say the contrary."
The court heard his haunting reason as to why he allowed 72 men to abuse Gisele... because he was bored; or to put it in his own words, he was 'utterly idle' since retiring.
He told jurors: "I loved her well for 40 years and loved her badly for 10 years. I ruined everything, I lost everything. I should never have done that."
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Speaking about his 'weekly' assaults on his wife, he claimed it was an 'addiction'. He said: “I had an addiction; I had needs. I put everything on the line without thinking. I was selfish and I’m ashamed.”
When given the opportunity to respond, Gisèle said: "It is difficult for me to listen to this. For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would've never imagined could be capable of this. I trusted him completely."
The horrendous crimes were uncovered after police seized Dominique's devices, including his computer, and found a file called 'abuses' which featured over 20,000 images of Gisèle, dating back to 2011.
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Speaking at trial, Gisèle said: "They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag.
“When you see that woman drugged, mistreated, a dead person on a bed - of course the body is not cold, it’s warm, but it’s as if I’m dead."
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