Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old man accused of drugging his wife to sleep and hiring hundreds of men to rape her for over a decade, agreed to all charges in his first evidence since the trial began on September 2.
Referring to the 50 co-defendants who are accused of raping his now ex-wife Gisèle, Mr. Pelicot said, “I am a rapist like the others in this room.”
“They all knew; they cannot say the contrary,” he said.
Speaking on his ex-wife, he said, “She did not deserve this. I was very happy with her,” he told the court.
Gisèle, who was given the opportunity to speak shortly after, stated, “It is difficult for me to listen to this. For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would’ve never imagined could be capable of this. I trusted him completely.”
Mr. Pelicot, who was diagnosed with a kidney infection and kidney stones, missed court for nearly a week owing to illness.
The French pensioner went on trial for inviting several strangers to rape his wife after drugging her, in a case that has horrified the country.
No fewer than fifty men, whom he recruited online, are also being tried in the southern city of Avignon alongside the main suspect, a 71-year-old former employee of France’s power utility company, EDF.
Police counted a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
The men, aged between 26 and 74, are accused of raping the 72-year-old woman, who, according to her lawyers, was so heavily sedated that she was oblivious of the abuse, which continued for a decade.
He is scheduled to give his testimony throughout the day, with many breaks.
