France trial: Man says it’s wife’s fault he drugged and let men rape her | World | News

A man on trial in France for repeatedly drugging his wife and inviting more than 80 men to rape her over a decade period has blamed his actions on his wife because she refused to try swinging.

Dominique Pelicot, 71, was excused from his trial hearing today due to “medical problems,” his lawyer told the judge.

However, psychologist Annabelle Montagne spoke in court about a chilling interview she had with the retired electrician in December 2020 – just less than two months after he was taken into custody.

During the interview, he admitted to carrying out the campaign of abuse on his wife Gisele.

The psychologist told the court: “Pelicot said ‘my wife and I had a discussion about swinging but she didn’t agree so I drugged her.'”

Montagne added: “He sees his partner as an object to satisfy his sexual and narcissistic needs. His wife is then a partial object and no longer an object of total love.”

Another prison psychologist told the court that Pelicot had a “split personality”, lacked empathy and inherited the temper of his father, who was said to be a violent abuser.

Pelicot also told her that the depraved abuse of his wife would have continued if he hadn’t been caught, she said.

The father and grandfather also complained that his life had been ruined by the criminal charges brought against him.

Pélicot has admitted to orchestrating the rape of his wife over nine years by dozens of men he recruited online. The 71-year-old would drug his wife in the evening using strong tranquilisers and invite men to their home in Avignon, France.

Gisèle Pélicot has no recollection of the assaults and has waived her right to anonymity, insisting the trial not be shut to the public because “that’s what her attackers would have wanted”.

Fifty men accused of taking part in the alleged rapes join him in court on aggravated rape charges, facing jail time of up to 20 years.

Pélicot was caught after a supermarket security guard stopped him filming up women’s skirts in 2020. When police searched his devices they found more than 20,000 pictures of Gisèle naked, unconscious and being raped on a file called “ABUSES”.

As well as the heinous abuse of his wife, Pelicot has also been charged with raping and murdering a Paris estate agent in 1991.