At the Vaucluse departmental criminal court,
Suddenly, the armor cracks. For weeks Gisèle Pelicot has listened without letting her emotions show, the men accused of having raped her. We barely see her, from time to time, rolling her eyes at the most convoluted explanations of the accused. But this Thursday morning, she discreetly wipes away a few tears. Facing her, in the dock, the man who was her husband for fifty years – and her executioner for ten years – swears never to have considered his wife as “an object”, “a commodity”.
On the contrary, insists Dominique Pelicot. “I have always been very proud of my wife, I was dazzled by her personality,” he begins from the box, slightly slumped in his chair, his legs tirelessly crossed. Then he adds, his voice tight: “I wanted to make her known, it was not at all her style, she was someone discreet. »
Is this the sordid reason why he handed him over to 72 men – around twenty have not been identified – for around ten years? “I don’t know if that’s the real reason, I’m still working on it.” The only thing I know is that I betrayed her. » What credit can be given to his words? Is he faking emotion? Is this a way of “proving” to the court that he is aware of the horror of his actions or a fleeting awareness of the field of desolation he leaves behind him? Is it also a way of regaining some esteem in the eyes of his ex-wife? “I measure the damage I have done to my family,” he swears, specifying that his “only regret” is not having been “taken away in 2002 by illness”.
“He was satisfied”
Since the opening of the trial, Dominique Pelicot has missed no opportunity to accuse his co-defendants and to highlight the inconsistencies in their stories. “He was satisfied and I won’t hide the fact that I was too,” he said with disdain after hearing Jean T’s denials. The accused, now 52 years old, staunchly maintains that he had a hole in his stomach. memory shortly after entering the room. “I saw him making love to his wife in front of me and afterwards I have no memory,” he swears. According to him, Dominique Pelicot drugged the coke he handed him when he arrived. As with all defendants who deny the rapes, the septuagenarian insists that “he was aware of what was going to happen”.
What credence can be given to the words of the man who is described by experts as a pathological manipulator? “Why should we believe you,” asks one of the defense lawyers. “Because I tell the truth,” he replies without blinking. He gets annoyed as soon as a lawyer tries to question him or doubts his words. According to several psychiatric examinations carried out during the investigation, Dominique Pelicot is also described as a man with a “perverse” personality. On several occasions, investigators revealed, during the investigation, that he had lied about the level of knowledge of some of his co-accused.