Devastated grandmother Gisele Pelicot finally reached her breaking point and walked out of the Avignon courthouse in the middle of proceedings for the first time yesterday.
Gisele, 72, has been forced to relive a decade of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot and scores of other alleged rapists during the trial that began in early September.
Dominique has already admitted to drugging his ex-wife, allowing scores of men to rape her as she slept and filming the abuse for his own enjoyment.
Since the start of the proceedings, Gisele has been seen as a symbol of strength who hasn’t wavered once as she is made to sit through the testimonies of those accused of raping her.
But the testimony of one man, Vincent C., appeared to be too much for the septuagenarian, who had to leave with the assistance of a psychologist.
Vincent C., a carpenter described by Le Monde as an ‘alcoholic, pot smoker, occasional cocaine user and already convicted of domestic violence‘ denied the charge of aggravated rape, but acknowledged he had sex with her.
Gisele Pelicot (pictured) has been forced to relive a decade of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, and 49 other alleged rapists. Pictured: Gisele Pelicot (centre) arrives with her lawyer Antoine Camus (right) at the Avignon courthouse on October 10
Dominique (pictured) has already admitted to rendering his wife Gisele unconscious then inviting dozens of men to rape her
Dominique Pelicot arriving at court on the morning of October 3
He told the court how he visited the notorious coco.fr forum Dominque Pelicot used to organise the mass rapes: ‘It was very quick. I logged on and half an hour later an appointment was made.’
Gisele left immediately after he complained about how little ‘choice’ he had for opportunities to have sex with people using the forum: ‘It’s not a supermarket either, eh, Coco!’
Despite this, he visited the Mazan home at least twice, according to Dominique’s meticulously-kept files – once on October 27 2019, and again on January 11 2020.
When asked why he didn’t question what Dominique was organising, Vincent C. said: ‘I was looking for a f*** buddy. I don’t think at times like that.’
He added that he believed that Dominique’s invitation to rape his wife was the same as being invited by her as well.
‘When the husband tells me, “She has gone to bed, we are going to wake her up,” that removes the question of consent from my mind’, he said.
When asked whether he knew that consent by proxy did not exist, he simply said: ‘At that moment, I thought I satisfied the couple more than I did.’
The mass trial, expected to last until the end of the year, continues.
It comes just a day after a witness claimed that the Monster of Avignon had asked him to do some gardening work at his home in exchange for allowing him to rape his wife.
The man, identified only as Jerome B, had been in contact with Pelicot in March 2020 and told the packed courtroom in southern France that he had been offered sex with the retired electrician’s partner in return for his services.
Jerome B was identified in the depraved documents, but his file was left empty as he never went to the couple’s home in the Provence village of Mazan.
Speaking from the witness box yesterday, he said he ‘refused to go’ after Pelicot told him his wife would be drugged because he considered it to be rape.
Abuse took place in the town of Mazan, south of France, and was only uncovered after the man was caught up-skirting women in a local supermarket, prompting officers to search his home
The Pelicot home in the village of Mazan, now known as the house of horrors
A woman holds a placard reading: ‘Victim we believe you rapist we see you’, during a silent march to support Gisele Pelicot
The truck driver, who ultimately had no charges brought against him in the case, is now giving evidence in a trial which has seen 50 men accused of raping Mrs Pelicot.
‘He asked me to do some gardening work and in exchange, he offered me his wife,’ he told the court.
‘I suggested it to him on a Saturday morning, he said no because he gave her a pill to make her fall asleep.
‘He added that he drugged his wife and offered her to men very often. I told him that it was rape and that I did not agree.’
A second man, named as Cyril F, who is said to have had an ’empty file’ in the case, also gave evidence yesterday.
He told the court that he had a brief exchange with Pelicot on coco.fr, ‘until he told me that his wife would take pills and that she would probably be asleep when I arrived.’
‘I thought it was a young man talking nonsense, I didn’t think at all that someone could drug his wife and I cut it short,’ the 48-year-old civil servant claimed.
He added that he did not remember whether Pelicot had told him that he was administering the sleeping pills in secret or whether Gisele was taking them herself.
Earlier this month, Mrs Pelicot briefly broke down in tears as she listened to her husband’s excuses for inviting their neighbour Simone Mekenese to their home ‘to show him the goods’ before he raped her in November 2018.
Former soldier Mekenese, 43, who lived just 200m from the Pelicot’s chalet, today insisted he believed he had been taking part in a sex game in which the 71-year-old grandmother was a willing participant.
He told the court: ‘This was the first time I took part in ‘free sex’. Things were going badly with my ex-wife. I was looking for love, for a sexual encounter.
‘I thought I was taking part in a sex game in which Madame Pelicot pretended to be asleep.’
Gisele Pelicot has bravely waived her right to anonymity to unmask the alleged perpetrators in a case that has shocked the world
People take part in a march in support of rape victim, Gisele Pelicot, on October 05, 2024 in Mazan, France
Pelicot delighted in watching strangers abuse his wife and made home movies and took pictures
Dominique Pelicot, who has allegedly drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot, appears during his trial on September 17 (right)
But under cross examination he admitted that things were ‘weird’ and that Pelicot had told him to leave the room when his wife appear to be waking up.
Judge Roger Arata asked him: ‘Did you take the precaution that Madame Pelicot had consented to what was going to happen?’
He replied: ‘No, because Pelicot had consented to everything.’
Asked if he believed a man can give consent for his wife, he replied: ‘No, in hindsight, no.’
Mekenese admitted he had previously stated that ‘a man can do what he likes with his wife.’
Dominique has already admitted to rendering his wife Gisele unconscious then inviting dozens of men to rape her in a campaign of abuse carried out over a decade.
She has bravely waived her right to anonymity to unmask the alleged perpetrators in a case that has shocked the world.
Over the past four weeks, French people have come out to support her in their droves, with many organising protests up and down the country.
One was held in Mazan, Gisele’s home town, where hundred marched through the town in support of her.
The trial in Avignon has heard man after man claim that Pelicot had ‘tricked’ them into taking part in his twisted fantasies of the rape and humiliation of his wife – many of which were filmed.
Pelicot delighted in watching strangers abuse his wife and made home movies and took pictures.
The stash of 20,000 images, recording the gruesome scenes, was only discovered when he was finally caught in September 2020 when he was found to be upskirting women at a local supermarket, with a subsequent police search of his home revealing thousands of photos of his wife in a computer file marked ‘Abuse’.
Last month, Pelicot stood in the dock and admitted his guilt – and accused all his co-defendants of each having been willing conspirators.
He told the court: ‘I am a rapist – like everyone else in this room.
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