HORROR HUBBY: Twisted ex-husband filmed 72 men raping drugged wife

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Published Sep 04, 2024  •  4 minute read

The twisted Dominique Pélicot. POLICE

In a French courtroom, Gisele Pelicot watched in horror as she was raped again and again and again.

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The 72-year-old woman waived her legal right to anonymity in a sickening case that has repulsed and riveted the nation.

Her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, 71, is accused of drugging her and then recruiting scores of men — 72 in all — to rape his then-wife while he filmed the horror.

Besides her ex-husband, 51 other men are also on trial.

On Monday, she endured hours of videotaped evidence of herself being raped.

Dominique Pelicot and the other accused are charged with aggravated rape. The trial is expected to last four months at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon.

Prosecutors said the husband allegedly invited men he met online to rape his wife. He allegedly spiked her food with Lorazepam to knock her out.

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The monstrous attacks were filmed between 2011 and 2020.

“She could have opted for a closed trial, but that’s what her attackers would have wanted,” her lawyer, Antoine Camus told reporters, adding that it will be a “horrible ordeal.”

He added: “For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years. (She had) no recollection of the abuse which she only discovered in 2020.

“In terms of her mood, there is already a sense of relief that the trial is public, and that she won’t be in court alone over four months with her attackers.

“So that provides some comfort. She’s also preparing herself, she knows her words will be highly scrutinized, and will lead to questioning by the defence.

“So today she’s getting ready, she wants to express herself, and she will take the time to do so when it is asked of her and we expect that to happen quite rapidly this week.”

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For years, Gisele felt a deep sense of physical and mental torment. And then she learned the horrific truth.

“He disgusts me. I feel dirty, defiled, betrayed. It was a tsunami, I was hit by a high-speed train,” she told the court.

To people who knew them, the couple were well-respected retirees who often hosted family at their large home. One neighbour called them “lovely people.”

Cops believe the alleged husband from hell moved his family from Paris in 1991. In his new home, he alleged started his sex ring.

Many of the men recruited to defile his wife came from an internet forum called, Without Her Knowing.

Investigators said they recorded 92 rapes with 72 men taking part. Fifty-one of the alleged rapists were identified.

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The husband’s lawyer told the court on Monday: “He is ashamed of what he has done, it’s unforgivable.”

She added that his alleged crimes were a sick “addiction.”

“My client’s line of conduct is that he recognizes what he has done and that has not been in dispute one iota since the beginning,” she said.

According to the Daily Mail, the pair met in 1971 and went on to have three children together.

Gisele earlier told reporters that her husband had encouraged her to give swinging a try but she torpedoed the idea. To her, he was a “great guy” whose sexuality appeared “normal.”

Additionally, the Mr. Hyde side of their father was never apparent to his children, who described the accused as a warm, loving father.

Dominique Pelicot came to the cops’ attention in 2020 when he was busted making upskirt recordings at a local mall. When detectives searched his computer they discovered a treasure trove of images and video of his wife being raped.

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In addition, investigators discovered the rape invites on his computer. Pelicot copped to giving his wife powerful tranquillizers.

At earlier hearing, he admitted he did everything possible to keep his wife and children from learning his terrible secret. Le Point magazine reported that  Pelicot put strict restrictions on the men he invited to rape his wife.

There would be no cigarettes, aftershave, perfume, and neat and clipped nails and a hot bath were required before they were allowed to touch the victim.

Money was never involved in the vile enterprise. Among those ensnared are a journalist, a fire captain and others prominent locals. Some were family men, some were single, and some were married or divorced.

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Most of the men only participated once while some some raped up to six times, prosecutors said. The accused have wildly claimed they were simply turning a libertine couple’s fantasies into reality.

But Pelicot himself revealed that participants all knew he had drugged his wife and that she did not consent. He added that just three men fled the house in shock when they realized what was about to unfold.

In addition to the serial rape of his wife, Dominique Pelicot is also accused of a 1991 sex slaying along with a 1999 attempted rape. He confessed to the 1999 attempted assault.

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