Avignon rape trial: Accused rapist says he deeply regrets his actions and thought Gisele Pelicot would wake up

One of 50 men accused of raping a French woman after she was drugged by her husband said today he “deeply regrets” accusing her of being an “accomplice” in a twisted sex game to be.

Fabien Sotton, 39, was so ashamed of his behavior that he wrote to Gisèle Pélicot, 71, from his prison cell.

On Thursday he repeated his apology to her at the Vaucluse criminal court in Avignon, where he faces up to 20 years in prison for “aggravated rape”.

Sotton, an alcoholic who has spent much of his life outdoors, is in custody at Pontet prison along with Ms Pélicot's husband, Dominique Pélicot, 72.

The so-called 'Monster of Avignon' faces spending the rest of his life in a cell after inviting men like Sotton to the couple's home in nearby Mazan after contacting them online.

Recalling his first visit to the house in 2018, Sotton told the court that Ms Pélicot was lying naked on a table.

“I was in the mood, I didn't think she was drugged,” he said. “I thought she was an accomplice.”

Sotton admitted performing a sexual act on Ms Pélicot, saying: “I acknowledge the facts but I did not turn up to rape her. “I did not know she would be unconscious.

“I didn't think she was sleeping, I thought she was waking up.”

As Sotton looked at Ms Pelicot in court, he said in a shaking voice that he “apologized” for “believing she was an accomplice” in a perverted sex game.

He also wrote to her to apologize while he was in prison following his arrest in 2022, saying: “I deeply regret what I did.”

After listening to Sotton, Judge Roger Arata said: “You admit that an unconscious person is completely incapable of consenting to anything?”

Sotton replied, “I admit it.”

Dominique Pelicot, who was Ms. Pelicot's husband for 50 years before their divorce was finalized last month, has maintained throughout the trial that Sotton, like all other men, was “fully aware” that his wife would be drugged without her knowledge .

Pelicot, a retired electrician, has admitted drugging his unsuspecting wife for almost a decade so that men could rape her.

In return, Ms. Pelicot waived her right to anonymity in a case that caused shock and outrage around the world.

On Wednesday, Husamettin Dogan, 43, and another co-defendant said he had sex with Ms Pelicot even though she thought she “looked dead”.

Like many of the defendants, he said he believed he was taking part in a sex game organized by the couple after corresponding with Pelicot on a swingers website.

Ms Pelicot has been in the courtroom since the trial began on September 2, supported by her three adult children.

Pélicot was first arrested in September 2020 for secretly filming women's skirts in a supermarket in Carpentras.

His devices were searched and hundreds of pornographic videos and photos of women were found.

While in custody, Mr. Pélicot reported a hard drive hidden under a printer that contained a folder called “Abuse.”

Between 2011 and 2020 there were around 3,800 photos and videos of the rape of Gisèle Pélicot.

Investigators have listed a total of 92 rapes involving 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.

Pélicot's sex ring included advertising on an online forum called Without Her Knowing on the now-defunct website coco.fr.

Of the 83 men involved, 51, aged between 26 and 73, were identified and arrested by police.

Pélicot is said to have calmed his wife by putting Temesta – a powerful anti-anxiety drug – in their dinner.

The alleged rapists implicated in the case include civil servants, emergency workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a city councilor and truck drivers.

In another case, Pélicot was accused of raping and murdering a 23-year-old real estate agent in Paris in 1991.

He admitted attempted rape in 1999 after DNA tests showed there was a case against him.

The aggravated rape case in Avignon is scheduled to last until December 21st.

Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the remainder deny any wrongdoing.