Dominique Pelicot, the French man accused of drugging his wife and inviting strangers to rape her, has admitted to all charges against him. In his first testimony yesterday since the trial opened on September 2, Pelicot, 71, also spoke about why he “became perverted” after several decades of marriage and began drugging his wife Gisele Pelicot so strangers could rape her.
The 71-year-old French man is on trial for inviting over 51 men to rape his wife while she was unconscious. The abuse took place between 2011 and 2020. Pelicot would mix sedatives or anti-anxiety medication in his wife’s evening meal to render her unconscious and had a list of rules for the strangers whom he invited into their home to rape her.
“I was not born perverted”
Pelicot claimed that he repented his actions and asked his family for forgiveness. He also said he “was not born perverted” as he repeatedly claimed that he loved his wife.
“I loved her well for 40 years and badly for 10,” he said, referring to the decade when the abuse took place.
“We become perverted when we meet someone who gives us the possibility. Then we become perverted, yes,” the retired estate agent added, according to The Mirror.
Dominique Pelicot said that his “selfish moment” came when he met a male nurse online in 2010 who suggested that he drug his wife. The nurse showed him how to administer Temesta, an anti-anxiety medicine, and showed him photos of drugged women.
{{/usCountry}}Dominique Pelicot said that his “selfish moment” came when he met a male nurse online in 2010 who suggested that he drug his wife. The nurse showed him how to administer Temesta, an anti-anxiety medicine, and showed him photos of drugged women.
{{/usCountry}}“He gave me the dosage. I saw photos of his wife. That was the moment it started. I think about it,” the French man said, calling it the moment he “became perverted.”
(Also read: 'She didn't deserve this': 5 remarks by Dominique Pelicot who drugged wife, invited strangers to rape her)
Pelicot then began using an internet forum called Without Her Knowledge to invite strangers to rape his wife. The men he enlisted – many of whom were in court Tuesday – ranged from a civil servant, a prison guard, a former police officer, a firefighter, a journalist and nurses. Their ages ranged between 24 to 74.
The men would come to the Pelicots’ home in the French village of Mazan to rape Gisele Pelicot, who waived her legal right to anonymity so her trial could get more publicity.