A judge in France on Thursday found the ex-husband of Giselle Pellicot, who confessed to repeatedly drugging and raping her for nearly a decade and inviting dozens of other men to attack her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. Forty-nine men who Dominic Pellico brought to his home to attack his wife were also sentenced Thursday in the same landmark trial.
The man convicted of orchestrating the attacks over a period of years received a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while his co-accused received sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
During the trial, Giselle Pellicot, who insisted that her full name be published, and the court the proceedings will be published — was praised for her courage and became a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France and around the world.
“I want to express my deep gratitude to all the people who supported me during this difficult time. Your testimony, your statements, touched me deeply and gave me the strength to come back every day during these long days of trial,” Pellicott told reporters outside court Thursday.
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“I wanted to open the door to this trial last September so the public could see what was going on. I will never regret this decision. I am confident in our collective ability to find a better future where men and women alike can live harmlessly together with mutual respect,” she said.
Roger Arata, the chief judge of the court in Avignon, southeastern France, read out the sentence to Dominique Pellicot and 49 other men convicted of raping his ex-wife in her own bed at his invitation. Another man was charged with aggravated sexual violence. All the men were found guilty, but one had his conviction reduced from rape to sexual assault, and two were suspended.
“The children are disappointed by such low sentences,” one of Pellicot's family members, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
When Pellicott arrived in court on Thursday, she was greeted by a crowd of people holding signs that read slogans such as: “Thank you for your courage.” She and her daughters sat in the courtroom with their heads against the wall as the verdicts were read, CBS News affiliate BBC News reported.
The trial began on September 2, and Pellicott was face-to-face with her almost every day ex-husbandDominic or one of the 50 other men accused of assaulting her. She insisted that videos taken by her ex-husband, which show the men assaulting her while she is unconscious, be shown in court as evidence.
Her ex-husband was also found guilty of attempted aggravated rape of a woman named Cilia, the wife of another man, Jean-Pierre Marechal, who was one of the accused, and of taking indecent photographs of his daughter Caroline, and his daughters-in-law Celine and Aurora , reports BBC News. Sitting in court, he showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out, the BBC reported. After the verdict and sentencing, his lawyer said he would have ten days to file an appeal, which he is considering.
The attacks took place between 2011 and 2020, when Dominic Pellico was taken into custody. Police found thousands of photos and videos of the abuse on his computer drives, which helped find other suspects. Some of the men told the court that they thought the unconscious woman had no problem with it, or that her husband's permission was enough.
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“We're not ashamed, it's them,” Pellicott said in court, referring to the attackers. “First of all, I express my will and determination to change this society.”
Pellicote continued to attend hearings throughout the trial, in part because she “felt that she somehow represented the victims of such abuse,” her attorney, Stefan Babono, said ahead of Thursday's sentencing. “There are a lot of victims who go to court, face their aggressors, with no one outside, line up with them, bring flowers. So she felt that she had to continue to focus because she didn't choose it, but she felt that she represented the victims in some way and she felt a responsibility to do so.”
Controversial French laws
Pellicot's case has sparked protests across France, with protesters hoping the case could lead to changes in controversial French laws governing sexual consent.
France introduced a legal age of consent in 2021 after a public outcry over the rape of an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a man who was initially convicted of a lesser charge. Since then, sex with under-15s has been considered non-consensual, but French law does not refer to consent in cases involving older victims.
According to French law, rape is defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise” without consent, according to Reuters. Therefore, the prosecution must prove intent to rape in order to succeed in court, legal experts told Reuters.
Only 14% of rape allegations in France lead to official investigations, according to a study by the Institute for Public Policy.
“Why are we failing to get convictions? The first reason is the law,” French legal expert Catherine Le Magheres told Reuters. “The law is written in such a way that the victims must meet the stereotype of the 'good victim' and the 'real rape': the unknown assailant, the use of violence and the victim's resistance. But this is only true for a minority. rapes”.
“I'm trying to understand”
Speaking in court during the trial, Pellicott, 72, told how she thought she was in a loving marriage with her husband and would never have guessed what was happening.
“We drank a glass of white wine together. I've never found anything strange in my potatoes,” Pellicott told the court. “We finished eating. Often, when there's a football game on TV, I let him watch it alone. He brought my ice cream to my bed where I was lying. My favorite flavor is raspberry – and I thought, 'How lucky I am – love
She said that she had no feeling of drug intoxication.
“I never felt my heart flutter. I didn't feel anything. I must have passed out very quickly. I woke up in my pajamas,” Pellicott told the court, adding that she sometimes woke up “more tired than usual.” , but I walk a lot and thought that was it
“I'm trying to understand,” she said, “how this husband, who was a perfect man, could come to this.”
“Nothing will give her back the 15 years she lost, the 10 years she lived without knowing what was happening to her,” Pelico's attorney, Stefan Babono, said before the sentencing Thursday. “All she can hope for now is for justice to be served, and then, well, who can find comfort in someone going to jail for 10 to 15 years and seeing another family destroyed. No one – and, in fact, definitely not her. “
contributed to this report.