Trigger Warning: This article contains graphic details related to sexual assault.
The French man who confessed to recruiting over 50 men to rape his sedated wife has dodged giving evidence in court after he was discovered “fainting” in his prison cell, The Sun reports.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, was supposed to be cross-examined in court Wednesday (September 11) at the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon, where he is one of 51 defendants accused of violating his wife Gisèle Pélicot by drugging her and watching as strangers raped her for over a decade.
But just as the court proceedings were set to begin, he was hurriedly removed from the courthouse.
His defense attorney, Beatrice Zavarro, requested a comprehensive medical evaluation, stating: “I found Mr. Pelicot lying in his cell.”
“He had vomited, had fainting spells, and had pain in his kidneys. Physically, he is here but probably not in a fit state to take part in the proceedings in a calm manner.”
The French Pensioner and 50 others are facing a jail sentence of up to 20 years, accused of “aggravated rape” of Gisèle Pélicot, also 71, over almost a decade.
But he hasn’t appeared at his trial for the past two days due to ill health.
He made a brief appearance Wednesday, his left hand supporting his head as he leaned against the side of a gallery. Moments later, Judge Roger Arata called for the French man to leave, and onlookers shook their heads in disbelief.
“I heard things this morning in the courtroom suggesting that, obviously, his absence would be on purpose: No way,” Zavarro said about her client’s condition Tuesday.
“Let’s be clear about this. Monsieur Pelicot has not shirked (the proceedings) and will not be shirking. He will be here. He will reply to all the questions, but he can’t control what happens to his body,” she added.
“He didn’t plan to be ill. He is not a robot.”
It is technically possible to avoid a trial in France due to extreme ill health.
Everything You Need To Know About The French Trial
Dominique Pélicot was first taken into custody in September 2020 after he was accused of secretly filming up women’s skirts at a grocery store in Carpentras.
His devices were searched, revealing hundreds of photos and explicit videos of women, including some of his own family members.
It was while in custody that the French Pensioner reported a hard drive, hidden under printer, which contained a file labeled “Abuses.”
The file classified the nickname and telephone numbers of the alleged attackers together with over 3800 photos and videos of an unconscious Gisèle Pélicot being raped between 2011 and 2020.
Detectives have documented a total of 200 rapes, most of them committed by the French pensioner and more than 90 other men, 51 of whom have been identified.
Pélicot and Gisèle met in 1971 before getting married two years later. The pair went on to have three kids together before moving to Mazan, where the horrific campaign of the alleged sexual assault directed by the French pensioner began.
According to authorities, Pélicot set up an account on a website called coco.fr, where he reportedly invited strangers to his house so they could have “sex” with his wife.
The 71-year-old allegedly slipped Lorazepam and other strong tranquilizers, including anxiety-relieving medication Temesta, into his wife’s food to knock her out.
Prosecutors claim Pélicot participated in the rapes, recorded them, and used disparaging language to encourage the other 83 men, who were made up of ambulance workers, carpenters, civil servants, soldiers, a local journalist, a municipal councilor, a nurse, and an IT expert.
The men are aged between 26 and 74, with most accused of assaulting Gisèle Pélicot, 72, just once, but a handful are charged with multiple counts.
Some of the attackers have claimed to have thought they were simply helping the couple live out some form of twisted fantasy. 14 have already admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
Gisèle has no memory of being raped and talked about being frozen with shock when authorities showed the pictures and videos.
In a court statement on Thursday (September 4th), the 72-year-old grandmother revealed that she was riddled with sexually transmitted infections that her gynecologist could not explain during the assaults. She also disclosed being abused at least six times by an individual known to be HIV-positive.
Gisèle requested her case be made public to help raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
“She wanted the trial to be public so that everyone could hear and understand the excuses men make in such situations,” Stéphane Babonneau, one of her lawyers, told CNN on Tuesday.
This was in reference to the French man who claimed that Gisèle’s alleged infidelity (she did not cheat) and refusal to participate in swinging activities were his motivations for the crimes.
The couple’s divorce was finalised last month, and Gisèle is now one of the main prosecution witnesses against him.
Speaking to the court on Friday (September 5th), their daughter, 45-year-old Caroline Darian, described her father’s acts as “likely one of the worst sexual criminals in the past 20 years.”
Darian has started an awareness campaign called “M’endors Pas,” meaning “Don’t put me to sleep” on drug-facilitated sexual assault. Her father allegedly also secretly photographed her in the nude, along with her two sisters-in-law.
In a separate case, Dominique Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999 after DNA testing proved a case against him.
The trial began on September 2 in the southern French town of Avignon and is expected to last until December 20.
