THE trial of a French pensioner who recruited 72 men online to rape his drugged wife was dramatically suspended today after he claimed to be suffering from intense pain.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, and 51 other men face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty following a trial at Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon.
Retired electrician Pélicot was expected to be cross-examined this afternoon.
But before proceedings were due to get underway, presiding judge Roger Arata said Pélicot claimed to be “suffering with pain” in his intestines first reported on Monday.
“He had samples taken yesterday for analysis,” said the Judge.
“Medical staff do not have the results. Mr Pélicot is still ill. I will be receiving emergency updates throughout the day.”
Calling a temporary halt to proceedings, Judge Arata even suggested that he was considering “a suspension of the trial lasting several days”.
Pélicot was not seen in court on Monday, but his lawyers insisted he wanted to be there.
Béatrice Zavarro, a member of his defence counsel, said: “He assured me he wanted to be here, and that he does not intend to flee.
“Since the beginning, he has told me that he has been waiting for this trial.
“Since the beginning, he has told me that he will explain himself.”
His two sons, David and Florian Pélicot, were also expected in court today after having reportedly taken the stand yesterday.
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Pélicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, 46, already took the stand and described her father as “one of the greatest sexual predators” in recent years.
Caroline was herself secretly photographed in the nude by her father, as were her two sister-in-laws while taking a bath, it emerged in court.
She also revealed the shocking moment her mum first told her of the harrowing ordeal.
The court case has been shocking France over the past week after Gisele Pélicot, 72, waived her legal right to anonymity last Monday at the opening of her husband Dominique’s trial.
He allegedly invited 72 men he met online to assault his wife after slipping an anxiety medication into her food to knock her out.
He is said to have then filmed the horrid attacks over almost a decade between 2011 and 2020.
This week, a psychologist told the court that Pélicot was having difficulty adjusting to life in jail and that he was targeting his daughter Caroline, who claimed her father had drugged her and taken unseen pictures of her naked.
Dr Paul Bensussan said: “[Pélicot ] is overwhelmed by his current situation. But his anger is greater than his sadness.
“His anger is mostly directed at his daughter Caroline because of the book that she has written, entitled; ‘And I Stopped Calling You Dad’.”
Upon interviewing with additional psychologists and detectives after his arrest in September 2020, Pélicot said the criminal allegations against him had “ruined his life” and that he and his wife might have carried on leading a “happily” fulfilling existence.
Pélicot’s daughter last week took the stand to slam her father and reveal the sexual violence she faced at his hand.
Psychologists testifying on Monday also dubbed the sick man “Jekyll and Hyde” after claiming he has a split personality.
A report submitted to the court suggested Pélicot displayed a tendency towards “paraphilia” – sexual arousal in atypical situations – and also “somnophilia”– an attraction to unconscious partners.
This made him a “very caring and much-loved husband by day” but “a rapist at night”, psychologist Bruno Daunizeau explained in the report.
The court heard how Pélicot considered himself a “good husband” to the woman he married in 1971 and had three children with.
He said he was “respectful of his wife’s desires and refusals to sex”, but “also had fantasies about swinging” and “got pleasure” in seeing his wife “undergo sexual acts that she normally refused”.
Ms Daunizeau also revealed that Pélicot maintains the sickening abuse of his wife would have continued if he had not been arrested – and complained that his life had been ruined by the criminal charges brought against him.
Meanwhile, another psychologist Marianne Douteau told the court that Mr Pélicot still felt his life could have carried on as normal, despite the crimes he has admitted to.
She said that Pélicot “complained that this criminal case against him has destroyed his life”.
Pélicot is said to have claimed: “Gisèle would not have known anything, we would have continued to be happy.”
The sick husband previously told psychologists he spiked his wife’s food to knock her out after she refused to try swinging.
Dominique Pélicot was first caught in September 2020, when he was arrested for secretely filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras.
His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of photos and pornographic videos of women, including family members.
It was while in custody that Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, which contained a file called Abuses.
It classified the nickname and telephone numbers of attackers, together with some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
Pélicot moved his family from greater Paris in 1991, and later allegedly set up the sex ring.
It involved advertising on a site for “partners” on an online forum called ‘Without Her Knowing’ on the coco.fr site.
Of the 83 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.
Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting a powerful anxiolytic drug into her dinner.
Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.
In a separate case, Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing proved a case against him.
