'Disciple' of rape defendant drugged and raped his own wife, French court says | France

The trial of a Frenchman who hired dozens of strangers to rape his drugged wife hears how another man living in the same area adopted the same tactic and drugged and raped his own wife.

Dominique Pélicot, 71, is on trial in the southern French city of Avignon for repeatedly raping his wife in the southern French village of Mazan over a period of ten years and inciting dozens of strangers to rape her in her own bed. Fifty other men, aged between 26 and 74, are also on trial for their alleged involvement.

The trial is open to the public at the request of Pélicot's ex-wife Gisèle (71). She said she made the request to raise awareness of drug use in sexual abuse.

On Wednesday, the court of five professional judges heard that another man named Jean-Pierre was an alleged “student” of Dominique Pélicot. He was not on trial for the rape of Gisèle Pélicot, but for raping his own wife using the same method and inciting Pélicot to rape her as well.

Jean-Pierre, 63, a former truck driver for an agricultural cooperative, is said to have had contact with Pélicot in a chat room and used the same method to drug his own wife with tranquilizers and rape her, with Pélicot's assistance. Pélicot is said to have provided the tranquilizers to drug the man's wife and travelled there himself to rape her.

Jean-Pierre's wife is said to have been raped twelve times between 2015 and 2020. Jean-Pierre has told the court that he admits the allegations.

Police investigators said Jean-Pierre told them he met Pélicot in a chatroom called “Against Her Knowledge” on a now-closed website. He told investigators he asked Pélicot to come to his home when his wife was drugged, lead investigator Stéphan Gal told the court.

“Every time [Pélicot] traveled [there]he gave him the medication for the next time,” Gal said. Pélicot's lawyer told the court that Pélicot said he had given Jean-Pierre the medication four times.

Jean-Pierre's wife is not a civil party in the case because she “has five children and wanted to protect them,” Gal said in court. Given the pictures the police showed her of what happened to her, it was “shocking.”

Jean-Pierre's 32-year-old son from his first marriage said: “The allegations are very serious and I think he is aware of that.” The son said his father should take the stand in court. He said it was “certain” that Jean-Pierre had been manipulated by Pélicot. “I firmly believe that none of this would have happened if he had not met this person,” he said.

The court heard how Jean-Pierre's childhood was marked by extreme poverty and violence and sexual abuse within the family. “I was raised in the forest by pigs,” Jean-Pierre told his children.

18 of the 51 defendants, including Pélicot and Jean-Pierre, are in custody, while 32 others are participating in the trial as free men. The last defendant is still at large and will be tried in absentia. Most of them face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of aggravated rape.

The trial is expected to last until December.