'I am a rapist', says husband of sexually abused woman

A French man accused of drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over a decade has declared in court: “I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom.”

- PETER ALLEN, ANDY GREGORY

Dominique Pelicot, 71, spoke for the first time during his trial, saying: “I recognise the facts in their totality.” He faces charges including rape and gang rape of his now former wife Gisele Pelicot, as well as various privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images.

He is on trial alongside 50 other men. Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing. “They all knew, they cannot say the contrary,” he said of the co-defendants in the trial.

The grandfather appeared in the dock at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, following a week of ill health that delayed his testimony. He appeared with a cane.

Ms Pelicot insisted on a public trial to expose him and the other men accused of raping her and to shed a light on sexual violence, her lawyers have said. To many, she has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France. On Saturday hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered in cities across the country to demonstrate support for her.

In a dramatic scene in court yesterday, Ms Pelicot was given permission to react immediately to her husband’s confession, saying: “For me, it is difficult to hear it. For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined for a single second that he could do these acts. I had complete confidence in this man.”