The 15-week trial of the rape, sexual assault and drugging of Gisèle Pelicot concluded on Thursday 19th of December and found all 51 defendants guilty.
Dominique Pelicot, Gisèle’s husband, and the main defendant, met Gisèle when she was 19, with him claiming it was ‘love at first sight’. However, this quickly fell from a perfect romance. Domonique was first made known to the police when he had been arrested for an upskirting offence in 2010, where he was fined €100. Dominique kept this a secret. What caused the unravelling of the relationship occurred more recently when a security guard found Dominique filming up the skirts of women in a shopping centre by using a phone in a bag. This time, Domonique’s electronics were seized and reviewed, identifying over 20,000 organised images and videos of men raping one woman who appeared to be unconscious. This woman was later identified as his wife, Gisèle, who was entirely unaware of the events he had recorded.
Over the span of over 10 years, Dominique had organised the drugging of his wife through ice cream or drinks in bed. Gisèle was unaware of this, and had stated that she would wake up in the morning in her pyjamas, often tired, but had presumed this was due to walking lots the day prior. The drug experiment began in 2011, where Dominique was able to work out the correct dosage to use on his wife after obtaining over 700 tablets at the local pharmacy. Following the drugging of his wife, Dominique had arranged for dozens of men to come to their home to rape his unconscious wife, while filming the events throughout the years. He required the males to not smoke, wear any fragrances or park near to the home, with instructions to park down the street given to each man who arrived. The defendants had raised that they took part in the mass rapes because Dominique had told them that Gisèle had consented to the act as it was part of the couple’s ‘fantasy’.
The trial of all 51 men, including Dominique, began just over four years ago, with a total of 67 days in court. Gisèle, who turned 72 during the trial, attended every day and waived her right to anonymity after stating that she ‘wanted to ensure that society could see what was happening,’ and that she wanted ‘ all victims of rape to be able to say: 'If Mrs Pelicot can do it, we can do it'... Because when you're raped, you feel ashamed, but it's not us who should feel ashamed, it's them.’
The court has published its ‘motivations’ (its reasoning) for each verdict which now allows the convicted men to appeal their sentence within 10 days. Gisèle’s lawyers have stated that she is ‘ready to attend any trials.’
Each male defendant, aged between late twenties to mid-seventies, has been sentenced to between three and 15 years of imprisonment. The trial has been identified as the country’s worst mass-rape trial, with all of the sentences totalling to 428 years in prison. The defendant’s sentences are as follows:
Domonique Pelicot; Guilty of the aggravated rape of his wife and of the co-defendant’s wives, taking indecent images of his daughter and daughters-in-law, drugging his wife, and inviting at least 50 strangers to rape Gisèle. Sentence: 20 years.
Jean-Pierre Marachel; Guilty of drugging, attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife. Sentence: 15 years. Marachel was the only defendant not guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot, but had followed Dominque’s guidance to drugging and raping his own wife, as well as inviting Domonique to do the same.
Charly Arbo; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 13 years.
Cyrille Delville; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Christian Lescole; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: nine years.
Lionel Rodriguez;Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Nicolas Francois; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Jacques Cubeau; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: five years.
Patrice Nicolle; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Thierry Parisis; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Simone Mekenese; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: nine years.
Nizar Hamida; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 10 years.
Boris Moulin; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Jerome Vilela; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 13 years.
Didier Sambuchi; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: five years.
Quentin Hennebert; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: seven years.
Philippe Leleu; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: five years. (Two years are suspended)
Jean-Luc LA;Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 10 years.
Fabien Sotton; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 11 years.
Karim Sebaoui; Guilty of aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery. Sentence: 10 years.
Joan Kawai; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 10 years.
Jean-Marc LeLoup; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: six years.
Andy Rodriguez; Guilty of aggravated rape and aggravating factors. Sentence: six years.
Vincent Coullet; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 10 years.
Adrien Longeron; Guilty of aggravated rape and child abuse imagery. Sentence: six years.
Hughes Malago; Guilty of aggravated rape and two aggravating factors. Sentence: five years.
Ahmed Tbarik; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Husamettin Dogan; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: nine years.
Romain Vandevelde; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 15 years.
Joseph Cocco; Guilty of aggravated sexual assault. Sentence: three years.
Saifeddine Ghabi; Guilty of sexual assault. Sentence: three years.
Jean Tirano; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Mohamed Rafaa; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Ludovick Blemeur; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: seven years.
Patrick Aron; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: six years.
Abdelali Dallal; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Gregory Serviol; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Cedric Grassot; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 12 years.
Cendric Venzin; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: nine years.
Mahdi Daoudi; Guilty of mass rape and drugging. Sentence: eight years.
Thierry Postat; Guilty of mass rape and drugging and possession of child pornography. Sentence: 12 years and banned from working with children for life.
Florian Rocca; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: seven years.
Dominique Davies; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 13 years.
Cyprien Culieras; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: six years.
Mathieu Dartus; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: seven years.
Cyril Beaubis; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: nine years.
Paul-Koikoi Grovogui; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Omar Douiri; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
Redouane Azougagh; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: nine years.
Hassan Ouamou; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: 12 years.
Redouane El Farihi; Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentence: eight years.
France’s definition of rape does not currently include the concept of ‘consent.’ Following this trial, calls have been made to the French Government by women’s organisations and advocates to include it in the legal definition. It currently exists as ‘sexual penetration, committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise.’
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