French Man in Mass Rape Trial Was Mad His Ex-Wife Refused to Swing

In November 2020, while French authorities were investigating Dominique Pelicot for taking photos up women’s skirts at a supermarket in southeastern France, they made a horrifying discovery on the 71-year-old man’s computer. In a folder entitled “abuses” were thousands of photos and videos of Pelicot and other men—complete strangers—raping his then-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, while she was unconscious. In total, police counted 20,000 images and found that over 80 men had raped Pelicot between 2011 and 2020. Prior to the investigation, Gisèle had no idea.

“I speak for all women who are drugged and don’t know about it, I do it on behalf of all women who will perhaps never know,” Gisèle said in court on Thursday, two days into the trial. During her testimony, Gisèle recalled years of inexplicable memory lapses, hair loss, and weight loss. She feared that she was developing Alzheimer’s or another serious illness—all the while her former husband was plying her with drugs, inviting strangers into their home to rape her, and prolifically documenting her assaults.

“Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me,” she said of the photos and footage. “They treat me like a rag doll.” Among the men allowed to assault Gisèle was a man who was HIV positive. Though Dominique was aware of this, he still let the man to rape her six times.

“Luckily I didn’t catch it. But not once did Mr. Pelicot say to himself, ‘I’ve gone too far,’” she said in court. “He showed no pity, no pity at all.” Regardless, Gisèle did test positive for four other sexually transmitted diseases.