Over the last 100 days, a courtroom in southern France has been the scene of a trial which has shocked the world.
Firefighters, soldiers, lorry drivers, a DJ and a journalist are among the dozens of men accused of raping a 71-year-old woman at the behest of her husband over the course of a decade – all without her knowledge.
Dominique Pelicot, who has come to be known as the Monster of Avignon, stands accused of drugging, raping and organising the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his wife Gisele by dozens of other men.
He is on trial alongside 50 co-defendants, many of whom he met online and invited to his home in the sleepy Provence village of Mazan, where he would film the hundreds of attacks on his unconscious wife.
Prosecutors have called for a maximum 20-year jail term for Pelicot and have sought sentences of between 10 and 18 years for 49 of the 50 alleged accomplices, with a four-year punishment requested in only one case.
As the trial comes to a close, with a verdict expected next week, looks back at the disturbing testimonies and astonishing excuses given by the men accused of raping and sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot.
Dominique Pelicot, 71
Pelicot, who had been with Mrs Pelicot for 50 years and shares three children with her, has admitted to serially raping and allowing others to abuse his wife.
‘I am a rapist just like all the others in this room,’ he said, adding: ‘I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did. I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.’
Pelicot told the courtroom he had a difficult upbringing and had himself been a victim of rape, crying at times as he gave his testimony.
He said he had wanted his wife to participate in partner swaps and her refusal, together with trauma from his youth, had helped to trigger his abusive behaviour.
‘It became a perversion, an addiction,’ he told the courtroom.
Pelicot said he had filmed the acts of abuse as an insurance policy in case one of the men involved reacted poorly.
Jean-Luc L, 46, manual labourer
The 46-year-old pleaded for leniency, telling the court he doesn’t deserve a 14-year jail term for joining the mass rape of Gisele Pelicot because he is ‘weak and finds it hard to say no’.
His wife said he only went to meet with Mr Pelicot because she refused to have sex with him at the time. Mrs Pelicot told her that she was not to blame for her husband’s actions.
Cyrille D, 54, butcher
He said he visited the Pelicots in September 2019 when his partner was on holiday with their children.
He said he had been ‘sexually frustrated’ and wanted to ‘console’ himself.
Lionel R, 44, supermarket worker
The father-of-three admitted that he was guilty of raping Mrs Pelicot on December 2, 2018 – though he said he had not intended to.
‘Since I never obtained Mrs Pelicot’s consent, I have no choice but to accept the facts,’ he told the court, before apologising to his victim for the ‘nightmare’ she had endured.
He added: ‘I never told myself: “I will rape that woman”,’ but admitted that he should have left when he saw Mrs Pelicot was unconscious, and that it was cowardly of him not to have said anything.
He put some of the blame on Mr Pelicot, saying he had done what the husband had told him to do.
Jacques C, 72, former firefighter
Jacques C, a father-of-two who had been married for 25 years, denied raping Mrs Pelicot.
He admitted touching her but said there had been no penetration and as such no rape had taken place.
He told the court he had been ‘naive’ and had believed it was a game between the couple and that she would wake up.
The former fire officer, who went on to run a pizzeria and work as a lorry driver, considered that his religious education had made him a ‘giving person’ who respected and loved women ‘in all their complexity’.
Joan K, 26, soldier
The 26-year-old is the youngest of the defendants and was aged 22 when he allegedly raped Mrs Pelicot on two separate visits to her home in 2019 and 2020.
The soldier, whose full name is Joan Kwai, first went to the house in November 2019, the day his daughter was born.
He then went back another time, and admits to having set off for a third visit, which Mr Pelicot cancelled at the last minute.
In front of the investigators, he first stated that he had not asked himself the question of whether Mrs Pelicot had consented.
Then, confronted with the photos, he admitted that she was unconscious and that it was a rape.
At the beginning of the trial, he said he ‘recognised the facts, but not the intention’.
Husamettin D, 43, unemployed carer for his disabled son
The married father is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot in June 2019, but denies the charge.
‘I don’t accept being called a rapist, I’m not a rapist,’ he told the court.
The 43-year-old, who had given up part-time work to care for his disabled son, had made contact with Mr Pelicot and went to his home in the same night, telling his wife he was going out.
He admitted that he found it strange that Mrs Pelicot’s legs were dangling awkwardly and said she had ‘seemed dead’.
But, he claims he had believed it was ‘staged and part of the game’. To this day he says: ‘I am not a rapist.’
Fabien S, 39, convicted criminal
The 39-year-old, who has 16 previous convictions for crimes ranging from armed robber and drug dealing to domestic violence and sexually assaulting a minor, admitted to raping Mrs Pelicot in August 2018.
Mrs Pelicot was drugged in her evening meal and carried by her husband to the dining room, where she was attacked, the court heard.
Fabien S said he had not gone to the Pelicots’ home with the intention of raping her, telling the court: ‘I didn’t know I was supposed to rape her, but I recognise the facts.’
He added that he had ‘not paid attention’ to whether or not she consented and said he was not interested in having sex with an unconscious woman because he liked to hear women scream.
Mathieu D, 53, former baker
The father-of-two, who worked as a baker for 25 years before quitting due to a grain intolerance, was accused of raping Mrs Pelicot with her husband on October 3, 2020.
He has admitted to rape and said he was high on ecstasy at the time and had believed it was a game with a married couple.
Andy R, 37, unemployed farm worker
The unemployed farmhand and father-of-two is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot on New Year’s Eve 2018.
The 37-year-old, who has two domestic violence convictions, said he did not intend to rape Mrs Pelicot, telling the court: ‘As the husband had given me permission, in my mind she agreed to it.’
An alcoholic and regular cocaine user, he said he went to the Pelicots’ home on New Year’s as he had ‘nothing better to do’ after not being invited to his brothers’ party.
Simone M, 42, builder and ex-soldier
The father-of-five was the only alleged rapist, apart from her husband, who Mrs Pelicot regonised when she was shown tapes by police.
He is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot on November 14, 2018, a charge he denies.
The former mountain infantryman got in touch with Mr Pelicot online before realising they lived less than 200 metres apart.
He visited the Pelicots’ home in the day after Mr Pelicot told him to come over to ‘see how beautiful my wife is.’
‘If she asks, say you’ve come to discuss my bike,’ he told his neighbour.
Asked why he went to have sex with Mrs Pelicot, he told the court: ‘Things were going badly with my ex-wife, I was looking for love, an encounter to calm myself.’
His ex-wife said he had once threatened her with an axe. He had a one-year-old daughter with his current partner, who told the court she stands by him.
Thierry Po, 61, refrigeration specialist
The father-of-three denies raping Mrs Pelicot on August 21, 2020, saying he did not see anything out of the ordinary about the night in question and had previously had encounters with couples where the man had given consent for the woman.
‘I always thought Mrs Pelicot would wake up,’ he told the court. ‘She wasn’t cold, she wasn’t dead, her skin was soft.’
The 61-year-old is also charged with possession of hundreds of child abuse images which were found after his arrest in the Pelicot case, charges he admits to.
Jerome V, 46, former grocer
The father-of-three admitted that he raped Mrs Pelicot and that he had been aware that she was drugged.
He allegedly went to the Pelicots’ home on six separate occasions between March and June 2020.
He told the court: ‘I didn’t keep going back because rape mode was my thing, but because I couldn’t control my sexuality.’
Thierry Pa, 54, former builder
The 54-year-old, who had separated from his wife several weeks prior to the alleged attack in July 2020, said he had contacted Mr Pelicot online seeking an encounter with a couple.
He denied rape, saying: ‘I didn’t set out from my house saying: ‘I’m going to rape someone.’
‘I don’t understand how she didn’t feel anything, didn’t realise,’ he went on, adding that Mr Pelicot may have drugged him and that he had been brainwashed by him.
Adrien L, 34, son of wealthy building contractor
Among the youngest of the accused, Adrien L denies raping Mrs Pelicot in March 2014, when he was aged 23.
From a wealthy background, he was aged 21 when he found out from a paternity test that he was not the biological father of a three-year-old child he had been raising as his own with his girlfriend. From then on, he said, ‘I had a hatred towards women’.
The night he allegedly raped Mrs Pelicot his then-girlfriend was nine months pregnant, and gave birth just over a week later.
The former site manager was last year convicted of the rapes of three former partners and is currently serving a 14-year jail sentence.
Jean T, 52, roofer
The 52-year-old allegedly drove two-and-a-half hours to rape Mrs Pelicot, a charge he denies.
He claims he was drugged and ‘does not remember anything’. Judges observed he did not appear drugged in seven videos of the encounter, at one point giving a thumbs up to the camera.
Redouan E, 55, community nurse
The 55-year-old allegedly raped Mrs Pelicot at her home on a Saturday night in June 2019.
He denied rape and said he thought Mrs Pelicot had been pretending to be dead ‘but never that she’d been drugged,’ despite being a trained anaesthesia nurse.
Didier S, 68, truck driver
The lorry driver and divorced father-of-two said he had gone to the Pelicots’ ‘exclusively for a homosexual encounter’ with Mr Pelicot on January 30, 2019
He said he believed Mrs Pelicot had been pretending to be asleep and denied the charge of rape.
Karim S, 40, computer expert
The 40-year-old denied raping Mrs Pelicot on June 27, 2020 and said he did not attend a second meeting with Mr Pelicot because the first one was ‘too bizarre’.
The IT expert is also accused of possessing child pornography, which he claims to have downloaded by accident.
Vincent C, 42, carpenter
The carpenter is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot twice, in October 2019 and January 2020, but denies the charges.
He said he felt no pleasure during the encounter but that Mr Pelicot had told him he ‘enjoyed it’.
Pelicot told him his wife had watched a video of the first visit and ‘liked it’, which he believed ‘closed the door on any doubt’.
He added that he felt he had ‘satisfied’ the Pelicots more than himself. Mrs Pelicot found the statements so unbearable that she got up and left the courtroom briefly.
Jean-Marc L, 74, truck driver
The eldest defendant denied raping Mrs Pelicot in May 2017, telling the court it had been, in his mind, a ‘sexual game’.
The truck driver said he believed Mrs Pelicot would wake up and said he had ‘obeyed orders’ from her husband.
Dominique D, 45, lorry driver and ex-soldier
The 45-year-old said he was contacted by Mr Pelicot online in February 2015, saying he was looking for a man as a ‘gift’ for his wife ‘for Valentine’s Day’.
He is accused or raping Mrs Pelicot on six occasions, but has denied rape.
Mohamed R, 70, former discotheque worker
The 70-year-old is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot in May 2019 at the Île-de-Ré holiday cottage of the Pelicots’ daughter, Caroline. He denies the charge.
He has already served five years in prison for the rape of his 17-year-old daughter in 1999.
Ahmed T, 54, plumber
The father-of-three, who has been married for 30 years, is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot at the couple’s home in June 2019 after meeting Mr Pelicot in a chatroom.
He denied rape and told the court: ‘I’m not a rapist, but if I had wanted to rape I wouldn’t have chosen a 57-year-old woman, I would have chosen a pretty one.’
Mahdi D, 36, transport worker
The 36-year-old came into contact with Mr Pelicot online and is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot in October 2018, which he denies.
He says what happened to her is terrible and places the blame on Mr Pelicot, adding that it was also ‘terrible’ for him to have been caught up in something like this.
Redouane A, 40, unemployed
The father-of-four is accused of going to the Pelicots’ home twice in 2019, but has denied rape.
He said he asked Mr Pelicot whether it was normal for his wife to be snoring, to which he said he responded: ‘Yes, we like doing it like that.’
He described the Pelicots’ home as ‘a beautiful house in Provence’ with a ‘well-kept garden’.
Cyril B, 47, lorry driver
The lorry driver is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot at her home in November 2018.
He denied rape and said he had been manipulated to believe it was a game and was a victim of by Mr Pelicot, who he met in a chatroom.
Quentin H, 43, lorry driver
Quentin H is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot in her bed in November 2019, and has admitted the charge of rape.
He said he sold drugs on the website where Mr Pelicot got in contact with him and other men, allegedly telling him he had a female ‘friend’ who ‘had a fantasy about playing the sleeping woman’.
Gregory S, 31, painter and decorator
The 31-year-old, who was 24 when the alleged rape happened in June 2017, denied the rape and said he had believed Mr Pelicot when he assured him that his wife liked to ‘make love while drunk’.
He claims Mr Pelicot pressured him to rape her. In the videos of the act, Gregory can be seen smiling.
Florian R, 32, parcel delivery man
The delivery driver, who denies raping Mrs Pelicot in December 2019, said he drove to the couple’s house ‘out of curiosity’ and drank a bottle of whiskey beforehand.
He said he had met Mr Pelicot online and had believed it was a ‘consenting game between three people’.
Patrice N, 55, electrician
The 55-year-old electrician drove 20 minutes to meet Pelicot at his home on a Monday night in February 2020 after making contact with Mr Pelicot online.
Gisele was snoring loudly, video evidence shows, with Patrice N claiming he did not notice she was asleep as he had sex with her.
He claimed to have called Mr Pelicot ‘sick’ when he told him that he drugged and offered his wife up to other men.
Asked why he did not report this to police, he said: ‘I didn’t want to waste my time at the police station. I’m a humble neighbourhood electrician. If I went to the police and said she’s unconscious, who would have believed me?’
Mrs Pelicot, watching from her seat in court, shook her head at this response.
Abdelali D, 47, former canteen worker
Abdelali D, whose full name is Abdelali Dallal, told investigators he met Pelicot online on a swingers website called Coco.fr which has since closed.
He said he had been invited to Mr Pelicot’s home in Mazan to sleep with his wife.
Speaking before him, Dallal’s former partner told the court in Avignon how she had driven him to the Pelicot home in the nearby picturesque village of Mazan but she said she hadn’t asked him why he was there.
Romain V, 63, forklift driver
The 63-year-old former forklift driver is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot six times over six months between 2019 and 2020.
She was unconscious each time, but he denied raping her, saying that ‘her husband invited me in’ and that a husband’s consent was enough.
He told the court he had known that he was HIV positive at the time of the alleged rapes and had not worn a condom.
Mrs Pelicot did not contract an infection because he was on treatment and had a low viral load.
He said his reason for visiting the Pelicots’ house the first time was because: ‘I felt lonely. Christmas was approaching and I was going to be on my own again. I was looking for friendship.’
Cedric G, 50, IT worker
The 50-year-old admitted to the rape, but said that Mr Pelicot should shoulder most of the blame as ‘the conductor’ of the mass rapes.
He asked for drugs from Mr Pelicot because he said he wanted to incapacitate his own girlfriend and rape her, according to reports, but this did not happen.
Cendric V, 44, former foreign legionnaire
A former soldier in the French foreign legion, Cendric V was unemployed when he is alleged to have raped Mrs Pelicot on two occasions in 2016 and 2018.
He previously denied rape, but in court he changed his mind and said that it was not possible to deny ‘the facts’ of what had happened.
He said that he had believed that Mrs Pelicot was consenting, but in court recognised she had not and apologised.
‘I have always said that I did not intend to rape anyone,’ he said, adding that he had felt tricked by Mr Pelicot and had believed he was going to have an encounter with a consenting couple.
Patrick A, 60, video store owner
The 60-year-old admitted a charge of raping Mrs Pelicot but said he had taken part reluctantly, and had instead wanted to have sex with her husband.
He had met Mr Pelicot on a chatroom, where he had said: ‘I’m looking for a pervert accomplice to abuse my wife, she takes sleeping pills and I take advantage.’
Patrick A had replied: ‘OK,’ and came to the couple’s home. He said he felt brainwashed by Mr Pelicot.
Ludovick B, 39, warehouse worker
The warehouse worker is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot just before New Year’s Eve in 2019, while the Pelicots were on holiday at their daughter’s home near Paris.
While the father-of-one recognised that a sexual encounter had taken place, he told the court he had not had intention to rape.
‘What I did was not premeditated,’ he told the court, adding that he was a regular cannabis user and had been afraid of Mr Pelicot’s reaction if he left the bedroom.
He claimed to have been a ‘collateral victim’ of Mr Pelicot, who he said had used him to be part of his fantasy.
However he later sent Mr Pelicot a message about possibly meeting up again if he was in the area, and another message at new year the following year.
Omar D, 36, mechanic
The married 36-year-old is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot in November 2017 hours after making contact with her husband on a chatroom.
He said he had not asked any questions and just did what Mr Pelicot said because ‘it was my first threesome and I didn’t know how to do it.’
Asked by Mrs Pelicot’s lawyer if he accepted the charge of rape he said ‘No, not at all.’
Cyprien C, 47, a former lorry driver
The father-of-one is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot at her home in 2017, an accusation he denies.
During cross-examination, he accepted a sexual encounter had taken place and apologised to Mrs Pelicot before adding that he could ‘not say more than that’.
He refused to use the word rape, telling the court ‘I can’t say that it’s rape’ as he believed that Mr Pelicot had led him to believe that his wife was playing a game in which she pretended to be asleep.
The former lorry driver said that while he ‘did not contest’ that a sexual act had taken place.
‘And the rape?’ the judge then questioned him. The defendant stood silently before eventually responding, ‘I can’t answer.’
Paul G, 31, wants to train as a pastor
The 31-year-old, who told the court he wishes to train as a pastor, is accused of raping Mrs Pelicot at her home in the middle of the day in 2016 after her breakfast was drugged.
He said at the time he was young, aged 23, and did not see it as rape as he had wanted to ‘have fun’.
But now admitting the charge, Paul G told the court: ”I raped, I accept it, I raped.’
He apologised to Mrs Pelicot, telling the court: ‘We are not monsters; we are men like any others.’
Saifeddine G, 37, lorry driver
The married father-of-three stands accused of raping Mrs Pelicot at her home in November 2019.
He admitted to the court that he had carried out an ‘attempted rape’ but denied a rape had taken place.
‘I recognise that I did not get Madame Pelicot’s consent. I am totally conscious of the seriousness of the facts … But for me, it’s an attempted rape. That is not to minimise it. I’m here for Madame Pelicot to know the truth,’ he told the court.
He said he was addicted to social media and went online to find partners ‘out of boredom’.
Christian L, 56, volunteer firefighter
The 56-year-old firefighter, who was filmed while wearing his uniform, said in court: ‘My body raped her, but my brain didn’t.’
Prosecutors have argued that he should get a 15-year sentence.
Jean-Pierre M, 63
Father-of-five Jean-Pierre M is the only defendant not accused of raping or assaulting Mrs Pelicot.
He instead stands accused of using the same technique to drug and rape his own wife, and organising for Pelicot to rape her with him. He has been described in court as a ‘disciple’ of Pelicot.
Joseph C, 69, pensioner
The 69-year-old is the only one prosecuted for ‘sexual assault in a group’ and not for rape or attempted rape.
‘It was difficult to get an erection,’ he said, adding that he stayed for 10 minutes and then left.
‘Had I known what he was doing to his wife I would have reported him. This is atrocious.’
Hugues M, 39 A tiler
The motorbike enthusiast and father of two is accused of the attempted rape of Gisèle Pelicot a few days before his then girlfriend’s birthday in October 2019.
He denies the charge. He said he did not know Gisèle Pelicot was drugged and had not looked at her face, just her body.
Nizar H, 41
The Tunisian native is charged with rape after visiting the Pelicots’ home on October 10, 2020, just days before his wedding.
He has denied the charges, saying that Mr Pelicot told him that ‘his wife would pretend to be asleep, that it was their fantasy’ and that he could not hear Mrs Pelicot snoring over the sound of the television.
The 41-year-old has eight previous convictions, including for domestic violence against two ex-girlfriends.
Charly A, 30, vineyard worker
The 30-year-old is accused of six counts of rape. Prosecutors have requested a sentence of 16 years for him.
He has denied rape, saying Pelicot, whom he had met online, had told him that his wife would be ‘pretending to be asleep’.
He said: ‘I was told it was a scenario in which she was asleep. In that scenario, she was consenting.
‘For me, I didn’t intend to rape. I didn’t want to rape her, I didn’t want to do something bad to that family.’
Boris M, 37, transport worker
The 37-year-old has denied the charge of rape, claiming that he, like Mrs Pelicot, was a victim of her husband.
The prosecution contested that ‘at no time did he seek or obtain Gisèle Pelicot’s consent’, adding that ‘in reality, he was pleased with the situation presented to him’ by Mr Pelicot. They have asked for him to be sentenced to 12 years.
Nicolas F, 43, journalist
The 43-year-old freelance journalist, admitted he had ‘lacked judgement and strength of character,’ but also said: ‘I contest the intentionality of the rape.’
He said he went to Mazan on October 10, 2020, to have sex with Mr Pelicot, adding that he performed fellatio on him. He also penetrated Gisele digitally and performed an anulingus on her.
Nicolas F is also on trial for possessing child pornography images.
Philippe L, 62, gardener
The defendant met Mr Pelicot online and organised to meet him on June 7, 2018.
He denied having had any intention of raping Gisele Pelicot, saying he ‘only’ penetrated her with his fingers.