Dominique Pelicot — the 72-year-old French man who drugged his wife and invited dozens of strangers to rape her for nearly a decade — was convicted of aggravated rape on Thursday. The jury in Avignon, France, also convicted Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault, concluding a harrowing three-month trial that has sparked feverish debate about the legal definition of rape. The New York Times reports that Pelicot, 72, was also found guilty of raping the wife of one of the co-defendants and distributing photos of his now ex-wife, Gisèle, and their daughter, Caroline, and their two daughters-in-law.
Pelicot was initially arrested in 2020 after a supermarket security guard caught him secretly filming up women’s skirts. His arrest led police to a homemade library that included 20,000 photos and videos documenting his yearslong violation of Gisèle — chillingly organized in drives and folders named “abuse,” “night alone,” and “her rapists,” among others. Though Gisèle — who learned about the abuse only after police showed her the footage — had the right to keep the proceedings private under French law, she chose to waive her anonymity in the hopes that “when other women, if they wake up with no memory, they might remember the testimony of Ms. Pelicot.”
Like Pelicot, some of the co-defendants in the case acknowledged they were guilty of rape during the trial. But far more of them — despite the extensive video evidence — argued that they’d never intended to rape Gisèle when they came to the Pelicots’ home. Attempting to take advantage of a loophole in France’s legal definition of rape, which does not currently consider consent, some told the court Pelicot made them believe they were participating in consensual kink, notwithstanding the fact that they met him in a chat room called “Without Her Knowledge.”
Dominique Pelicot — who has admitted to his scheme to invite strangers to rape his unconscious wife — was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum possible under French law. The Times reports that Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants, nicknamed “Mr. Everyman” by French media, include truck drivers, carpenters, trade workers, a prison guard, an IT expert, and a local journalist. While prosecutors pushed for lengthy sentences for the co-defendants, the court sentenced many of them to less than a decade in prison and let some of them go free because of time already served in detention. The longest sentence, the Times reports, is 15 years, for a man who went to the Pelicots’ house six times and did not use a condom while knowing he was HIV positive. According to a judge, those convicted have ten days to ask for an appeal.
Speaking briefly to reporters outside the courtroom after the verdict, Gisèle called the trial “a difficult ordeal” that she took on for her children, grandchildren, and “many of the victims who are not recognized, whose stories often remain in the shadows.” Gisèle added that she “never regretted” her decision to make the case public: “I wanted society to take part in this debate,” she said. “I have confidence in our ability to collectively grasp a future in which everyone, women and men and alike, can live in harmony, with mutual respect and understanding.”
This post has been updated.
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