All 51 found guilty in France mass rape trial: Who is Dominique Pelicot, who invited men to rape his wife?

Justice delayed but not denied. That’s the feeling Gisele Pelicot must be feeling after a court in France found her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and 50 others guilty of carrying out a mass rape against her for over nine years of time.

The court has sentenced Dominique , who earlier admitted to drugging, raping her and allowing other men to rape her while she was knocked out, to 20 years in prison, which means that the 72-year-old man could spend the rest of his life in prison.

All 50 other accused were also convicted by the court, with no acquittals.

The historic case profoundly shook France over the past several months and resonated across the world.

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As the court sentences all of them, here’s a look back at who exactly is Dominique Pelicot, the 72-year-old French man behind the heinous crime and how he organised the mass rape of his now ex-wife, Gisele.

Family man or France’s worst sexual predator?

At the centre of this case lies 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot, a former electrician who then went on to real estate and then sales.

In court, it has been revealed that there are two sides to Pelicot: the first, being an attentive and dedicated grandfather, father and husband who had been in love with Gisele since they met when they were 19. The couple had a strong relationship, bearing three children. Pelicot was, in court, described as someone who went to football games and movies with his eldest son, David, and picked up his daughter — Caroline — from nightclubs to ensure her safety.

The second side to Pelicot was his devious, manipulative side, who was also addicted to sex. Experts in court said that this emerged from his own violent childhood. According to court testimony, Pelicot grew up in the centre of France. After his mother’s first husband abandoned them, she married his brother, having two more children — one of whom was Dominique.

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During the three-month trial, he once testified, “In every man, there is a demon, mine came from my childhood.” He described glimpses of his father raping and humiliating his mother. His lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro also argued that Dominique, himself, was scarred by trauma. The first was a rape when he was nine and was a hospital patient. The other was when he was an apprentice electrician working on a construction site during which he was forced to participate in a gang rape.

He also told the court that he had wanted to have an open marriage and participate in partner swaps. However, his wife, Gisele, refused. That refusal, combined with his own sexual abuse during his youth, is what triggered his deplorable behaviour, he said.

How did Dominique enlist men to rape his wife?

In 2011, when Gisele refused to give in to Dominique’s demands of an open marriage, it went downhill from there. He began connecting with men on a forum called “without her knowledge” on Coco.fr, a website hosting several chatrooms glorifying sexual violence.

According to investigations, it was on this forum that he learnt from another user how to drug his wife for his own sexual pleasure and then began inviting men on the forum to do the same to her. The police investigations show that Dominique would make initial contact with the men on the forum and then move on to personal chats on Skype. Some of the messages read, “I’m looking for a pervert accomplice to abuse my wife who’s been put to sleep” or “You’re like me, you like rape mode.”

He would send photos of his drugged up wife on the forum and then recruited men across all ages and professions — the youngest being now being 27 and the oldest being 74 — to come and participate in the rape of Gisele.

In some of the messages, several men even praised Dominque for what he was doing and expressed a desire to do the same to their partners. In fact, one truck driver identified as Jean-Pierre Marechal, has been charged with raping his wife repeatedly and even offering her up to Dominique.

In his messages to the men, he would prep them for what was expected of them — they were always instructed not to park by the house. They were also instructed not to wear any fragrance or smoke in order to avoid any trace that Gisele could smell.

He would then film the attacks, which were shown in court. The men were seen violating Gisele’s body in every which way while she remained limp and lifeless. While filming, Dominique could often be heard making degrading comments about his wife, Gisele, calling her a “slut”. He also propped notes beside her that read: “Service slut” and “Whore”, or wrote on her body: “I’m a submissive slut”. Some men did thumbs up or victory signs to the camera.

This went on for almost nine years with a total of 50 men — aged anywhere between 26 and 74 — including a nurse, a journalist, a soldier, a computer expert, farm workers, lorry drivers and shop workers, being involved in the heinous crime. If convicted, they face prison sentences of between four and 20 years.

What’s even more frightening is that police investigations revealed that Dominique hid cameras across his house, filming his son’s wives in their bathroom or home and sharing those photographs online. He also photographed his adult daughter asleep semi-naked, in underwear she didn’t recognise as her own, sparking fears that she too had been drugged and abused, though he denied in court ever abusing her.

In fact, his arrest in 2020 was an accident. He had been arrested from a supermarket close to his house when he was spotted trying to indulge in upskirting — the practice of photographing up a woman’s skirt or dress.

What about the others involved?

While Dominique has accepted his crime and on Monday (December 16) said in court, “I regret what I did, making (my family) suffer… I ask them for forgiveness”, there are 50 other men who are on trial too.

Some have accepted their crime; around 15 of them have asked for Gisele’s forgiveness. “I apologise to Mrs Pelicot, I regret it and I ask her forgiveness,” said Romain V, one of four accused who responded six times to Dominique Pelicot’s invitation posted on the Internet.

Another accused who went six times to the Pelicot family home in the town of Mazan in southern France, Jerome V, 46, said that “whatever sentence” he is given, he will not appeal, “out of respect for the victim, so that she does not have to endure” a new trial.

Irrespective of what the court decides today, one thing is certain: Gisele Pelicot will have to live with the horror of what was done to her by none other than her husband, who she trusted implicitly. That’s why it’s a betrayal beyond comprehension.

With inputs from agencies