Dominique Pelicot, a French national, has been found guilty of a disturbing crime involving drugging his wife of five decades and orchestrating her rape by strangers, all while recording the assaults.
The verdict, delivered by presiding judge Roger Arata in Avignon, concluded the legal proceeding that focused on the actions of the 72-year-old accused individual. He was subsequently handed the maximum penalty of a 20-year prison term.
During the trial, Dominique Pelicot confessed to the authorities that he had regularly incapacitated his former spouse with drugs in order to facilitate the sexual abuse orchestrated by himself and individuals he had recruited through online platforms, all of which was documented through recorded footage.
The appalling ordeal inflicted over nearly a decade on Gisèle Pelicot, now a 72-year-old grandmother, in what she thought was a loving marriage and her courage during the bruising and stunning trial have transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist hero of the nation.
Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilizers in food and drink that he gave his then wife, knocking her out so profoundly that he could do what he wanted to her for hours.
Gisèle Pelicot’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for the hearings and shocking evidence — including videos — to be heard in open court have fueled conversations both on a national level in France and among families, couples and groups of friends about how to better protect women and the role that men can play in pursuing that goal.
Gisele Pelicot, who was allegedly drugged by her now former husband so that he and others could assault her, arrives at the court house in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
Dominique Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him surreptitiously filming up women’s skirts.
Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife — more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and cataloged in folders marked “abuse,” “her rapists,” “night alone” and other titles.
