Aisha Mohamed
The case that shocked the French public; The trial of the ‘Degenerates’
This case shocked the French nation as defendant Dominque Pelicot,71, was accused of raping his wife, Gisele Pelicot, 72, and enlisting other men to also follow suit, for nearly a decade. The trial highlighted the extensive period these crimes were committed ranging from 2011-2020. Dominque executed these crimes by heavily sedating his wife and using online chat rooms to connect with men and interest them with the assault of his wife, several of these men are also on trial.
This file contained 20,000 images and videos, with the rape of his wife appearing over 100 times.
The remarkable manner in which Mr Pelicot’s crimes were uncovered stemmed from a police investigation into allegations of his public harassment of women. In November 2020, on his computer, they found a file he named ‘abuses’ on his drive. This file contained 20,000 images and videos, with the rape of his wife appearing over 100 times. When these videos were brought to her light in 2020, Mrs Pelicot told the court ‘My World fell apart. For me, everything was falling apart. Everything I built up over 50 years.’ She also stated that she was ‘sacrificed on the altar of vice’ and ‘regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag’ Gisele, during the trial, waved her anonymity for it to be held publicly, seeing herself as doing a service for other women and quotes that she is ‘testifying’ for all women who have been through this sort of abuse.
During the period of abuse ‘from 2011-2020,’ Mr Pelicot mixed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication and snuck it in with the evening wine she had for dinner. He then frequented sites where men discussed their interest in non-consenting wives and were instructed not to smell of perfume or cigarettes to avoid his wife becoming alert due to the smells. She told the courts that she had spent years missing large bits of her memories and had trouble putting them together.
Mrs Pelicot’s insistence on a public trial
The other 50 men on trial include a large list of, local councillors, nurses, journalists, a former police officer, a prison guard, a soldier, a firefighter and civil servants. Several of them deigning their involvement and even went as far as to say that Mrs Pelicot was a willing participant during the act. The trial is expected to last four months and all the defendants face over 20 years in prison if convicted of aggravated rape. The standout moment of the trial that brought tears to the French citizens was Mrs Pelicot’s insistence on a public trial as her Lawyer, Antoine Camus, stated she did not want a prosecution behind doors, ‘that’s what her attackers would have wanted’.
Aisha Mohamed
