A French woman whose husband allegedly let 72 men rape her while she was unconscious over a period of 10 years told the judge she nearly took her own life after the abuse was revealed.
Gisèle, 72, told the court in Avingon, France today that she wanted to ‘disappear’ after her husband’s campaign of abuse was revealed to her.
Her husband Dominique Pélicot, whom she’s currently getting a divorce from, faced each other in court for the first time yesterday in what is one of France’s biggest rape cases.
Gisèle said: ‘I only wanted one thing and that was to disappear. I told myself: ”I am going to get in my car with my dog and end it all.”
‘When I told my sons about this, I don’t think they really understood, they were withdrawn… I think they were in a state of shock. They said: ”Don’t say such silly things”.
‘[That] evening, the children rang all the time saying ”don’t disappear”… they were worried I might die.’
Yesterday she bravely told the court today she had been tested for HIV: ‘I was diagnosed with four sexually transmitted diseases at the Versailles medical forensic unit.’
Gisèle also told the court how she fell in love with Dominique and began married life with him, before her ‘world collapsed’ when she discovered his crimes.
Mr Pélicot wept as Gisèle described her feelings after finding out about her husband’s crimes: ‘Feelings of disgust. We had everything, we had a great life. I don’t understand how this could have happened.’
She also recalled how the policeman who arrested her former husband ‘saved my life’.
Gisèle, who has waived her right to anonymity, first of all thanked the lieutenant in the town of Carpentras who arrested her husband for secretly filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket.
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‘He saved my life and I probably wouldn’t be here without him,’ said the mother-of-three. Referring to ‘Mr Pélicot’, she recalled the moment he confessed to taking the seedy pictures.
Police found images on Mr Pélicot’s camera and laptop that showed multiple alleged rapes of his wife between 2011 and 2020 – the majority committed by strangers that Mr Pélicot had found online.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
The Avignon aggravated rape case continues, and is due to last until December 21.
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