GISELE'S BRAVE MESSAGE OF HOPE AFTER HORROR

'I'm thinking of the unrecognised victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same fight'

- Peter Allen

THE woman who was raped by dozens of strangers after being drugged by her husband has told fellow sex abuse survivors: "We share the same fight."

Brave Gisele Pelicot shared her message of hope after Dominique Pelicot, 72, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for a series of monstrous crimes.

Fifty other men were also found guilty of taking part in the abuse but many were handed shorter sentences than those asked for by prosecutors. And several walked free having already served jail time.

Courageous Gisele, 72, said she waived her anonymity in an effort to help other women and force a change in society.

And after the sentencing she said she "never regretted" that, having previously said she wanted to make the horrors of her case known to give other women affected by sexual violence the courage to speak up.

The inspirational figure told victims around the world: "It is with deep emotion that I speak to you. This trial has been a very difficult ordeal. At this moment, I am thinking first and foremost of my three children and of my grandchildren, because they are the future.

"It's also for them that I've fought this battle. I'm also thinking of all the other families affected by this tragedy.

"I'm also thinking of the unrecognised victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same fight.

"I have confidence in our capacity collectively to find a better future where women and men alike can live together with mutual respect and harmony."

Gisele's former husband, whom she divorced in the summer, was jailed for 20 years for hideous abuse that lasted almost a decade. From 2011 to 2020 Pelicot, a retired electrician and estate agent, contacted at least 72 men through so-called "libertine" dating websites.

Then he invited them to his family home in Mazan, a small Provence town near Avignon, to violate his unconscious wife.