„She did not deserve this,“ Gisele Pelicot’s ex-husband says at his trial in France, admitting to drugging and raping her and inviting other men to join in.
Avignon, France — „I am a rapist“, , the 71-year-old Frenchman accused of drugging his wife so he and scores of strangers could assault her, told a court Tuesday, returning to the dock after being ill for around a week.
Pelicot used a cane as he slowly entered the courtroom in the southern city of Avignon before sitting on a blue armchair to give him enough comfort to take part in the hearings.
„I am a rapist, like the others in this room“, Pelicot said, referring to the 50 other defendants in the mass trial — men he allegedly recruited online to rape his then-wife .
„They all knew“ that he was inviting them to rape her, he said, adding: „She did not deserve this.“
Dominique Pelicot is accused of administering anti-anxiety drugs to Gisele over a period of almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020.
