Gisèle Pélicot had started to forget things. One morning, she woke up in panic with a new hairstyle.
She couldn't understand how it had happened, so she went to her hairdresser who said she had been there the day before, says the 72-year-old's lawyer Stéphane Babonneau to The Guardian.
The Pélicot couple's three children suspected that their mother had become demented. It wasn't until 2020, after Dominique Pélicot was arrested for photographing women's underwear in a store, that they learned the truth.
In the courtroom in Avignon on Thursday, Gisèle Pélicot described the moment in November 2020 as her "world collapsing", reports French AFP. On the images shown to her, she lay motionless on a bed while different men assaulted her.
They treated me like a rag doll, she says in court.
Almost Unconscious
The evidence consists of thousands of images and films showing over 70 different men raping the clearly drugged Pélicot. The men, who were invited to the couple's home in Mazan via a website, had to follow strict rules: they were not allowed to speak loudly, wear perfume or smell of tobacco, and had to undress in the kitchen.
Some of them had to wait on a parking lot while the drugs her husband had given his wife took effect. Only when Gisèle Pélicot was almost unconscious were they allowed to enter, reports AP.
Dominique Pélicot and 50 other men – those who could be identified from the image material – are now on trial for the assaults. The defendants are between 22 and 70 years old – among them a former policeman, a local politician, a firefighter, and a journalist.
Gisèle Pélicot packed two bags and left her husband as soon as she realized what had happened. Since then, she has felt identity-less, she says in court.
Wants People to Know
Her ex-husband has largely confessed.
I drugged her, offered her out and filmed, said the 71-year-old during the detention period.
The trial is open to the public at the request of Gisèle Pélicot, who has also agreed to have her name and image published.
She wants people to know what happened to her and doesn't think she has any reason to hide, says Stéphane Babonneau according to The Guardian.
The case has stirred strong emotions in France. Since the trial began on Monday, women dressed in black have demonstrated against violence against women outside the court in Avignon.
The trial is expected to last for four months. Several of the defendants risk 20 years in prison for aggravated rape.
