Gisèle Pélicot speaks out after rapist’s husband cried in court during sentencing

Gisèle Pélicot is speaking out after her ex-husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging her for nearly a decade at their home in France and inviting dozens of men to rape her.

Dominique Pélicot, 72, was found guilty by a jury in Avignon, France, on Thursday, December 19, of aggravated rape of his then-wife Gisèle, also 72, multiple news outlets, including the BBC, Associated Press and NBC, reported News. He was subsequently given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

According to the AP, Gisèle addressed the media after the verdict and thanked those who publicly supported her during the trial of 51 men, including Dominique.

“Your messages touched me deeply and they gave me the strength to come back every day and get through these long daily hearings,” she said, according to the outlet. “This process was a very difficult ordeal.”

Retired electrician and real estate agent Dominique was accused of inviting several men – including firefighters, bricklayers, gardeners, prison guards, soldiers and journalists, now aged between 26 and 73 – to rape her while she was unconscious. Le Parisien previously reported.

According to a British newspaper, Dominique said he drugged Gisèle for almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020, and filmed the rapes The times.

He also confessed to his crimes, saying in court in September: “I am a rapist like the others in this room,” according to the BBC and French media Le Parisien and France 24.

According to the BBC, 15 of the 50 other defendants in the trial admitted rape, while most only claimed to have engaged in sexual acts.

Gisèle had no idea about the rapes until police told her about them after discovering thousands of photos and videos taken by her then-husband, who documented the abuse after recruiting strangers online. The New York Times reported, citing the investigative judge’s report.

Dominique was arrested in December 2020 after police confiscated his electronic devices while he was under investigation for filming three women’s skirts, prosecutors previously said.

The couple’s three children also appeared in court during the trial and described their “devastation” after learning what their father had done, it is claimed The Guardian.

“I have lost ten years of my life that I will never make up for,” Gisèle previously told the court The Guardian. “This scar will never heal,” she said.

Dominique was also found guilty this week of attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the other defendants – Jean-Pierre Marechal – by taking indecent images of his daughter Caroline Durain and his daughters-in-law Aurore and Céline. according to BBC.

The BBC reported that Dominique cried as the judge read out the verdict in court.

Gisèle, who waived her right to anonymity, also said Thursday that she is pursuing the case with her children and grandchildren in mind “because they are the future,” NBC News reports, citing British news partner Sky News.

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In October, she told the court she had opted for an open trial so that “all women who are victims of rape can say to themselves: ‘Madame Pélicot did it, we can do it.'” “I don’t want to “that they are even more ashamed,” says the French newspaper Le Monde.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.