Gisele Pelicot has called the trial of her ex-husband and 50 other men for raping her over the course of a decade a ‘trial of cowardice’ and spoke out against France’s ‘macho, patriarchal society’ where sexual violence is ‘trivialised’.
The 72-year-old, who has become a feminist hero after waiving her legal right to anonymity and insisting the trial be held in public, confronted her abusers as she gave evidence for the final time in a case that has horrified the country and the world.
Dominique Pelicot, has admitted crushing sleeping tablets into her food and inviting scores of men into their bedroom in the picturesque village of Mazan, in Provence, to rape her while she was unconscious.
Staring at the dozens of men accused of abusing her – many of whom have tried to avoid blame by claiming they did not realise they were raping her or were manipulated by her ex-husband – Ms Pelicot asked them: ‘At what point, when you entered this room, did Madame Pelicot give you consent? At what point, when you saw the inert body, did you not say to yourself that something abnormal was happening in this room?
‘I heard I was remote-controlled, I was drugged, I took Zolpidem [a drug used to treat insomnia].
‘We ask ourselves, when did we realise what was going on? Why didn’t we denounce what was going on?
‘For me, this is a trial of cowardice. The trial of Gisèle Pelicot is the trial of cowardice.’
She added: ‘They must take responsibility for their actions. They raped. Rape is rape.’
Ms Pelicot only learned of the abuse four years ago when police stumbled upon videos and pictures her husband recorded of the abuse he orchestrated.
Under French law, she could have asked for the trial to be kept behind closed doors.
Instead, she asked for it be held in public, saying she hoped it would help other women speak up and show that victims have nothing to be ashamed of.
Ms Pelicot said: ‘Since the beginning of this trial, I have heard a lot of whispered, unacceptable things, but that is how this trial had to happen. I knew what I was going to be exposed to by refusing to go to a closed hearing.
‘Obviously, I recognise that I am feeling tired today. I have been omnipresent. I find it very difficult when people say that it is practically commonplace to have raped Madame Pelicot.’
Becoming more emotional, she said: ‘Society needs to open its eyes to the fact that we live in a macho, patriarchal society where rape is trivialised.’
Ms Pelicot was supported in court by her youngest son, Florian, 38, who told his father in court yesterday: ‘I am very grateful to have our mother alive, but I have a lot of incomprehension about what our father did.’
He added: ‘You always said that our mother was a saint. But you, you were the devil incarnate.’
All of the couple’s three adult children have testified against Dominique Pelicot, who is on remand and appearing in court in a glass-fronted dock.
The retired electrician and estate agent crushed sleeping pills into his wife’s food and drink, then invited the strangers to rape her between 2011 and 2020.
He kept hundreds of videos of rape on his computer in a file entitled ‘Abuse’, and has admitted the charge against him, telling the court: ‘I am a rapist.’
Some of his co-accused admit rape, while others say they did not know Gisèle Pelicot was drugged, despite videos showing her snoring loudly.
The trial continues and is due to end on December 21.
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