Gisele Pelicot condemns France’s ‘macho society’ in final remarks at mass rape trial

Victim describes case against husband as ‘trial of cowardliness’ as couple’s children call on their father to ‘tell the truth’ about abuse

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Gisele Pelicot has described the case against her husband as a “trial of cowardliness” which she said had laid bare a “macho society” in which rape was “trivialised”.
In a case that has appalled France, her husband Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife and invited dozens of men to rape her over a decade.
He has been in the dock along with 49 other men since early September in the Vaucluse criminal court in Avignon, southern France. They face up to 20 years in prison.
Ms Pelicot has become a feminist icon after demanding the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse and so that “shame changes sides”.
In what may be her final remarks in the 11-week trial, the 71-year-old said: “I knew what I was signing up for when I gave up the right to a closed trial… I admit that today I can feel the tiredness.”
She added that for her it was a “trial of cowardliness”.
“Society at this point needs to look at how we trivialise rape,” she added.
Only 14 of the co-defendants, who are of all ages and walks of life, many of them without previous criminal convictions, have admitted charges of aggravated rape.
The others deny having raped Ms Pelicot and maintain that they thought they were taking part in sex games.
Dominique Pelicot will also have a final opportunity to speak at the trial this week before prosecutors make their closing arguments on Thursday and Friday, which will include their sentencing demands for the defendants.
On Monday, Ms Pelicot’s children condemned their father and urged him to tell the truth about what he had done.
Addressing his father in the dock, Florian Pelicot, the couple’s youngest son, said: “You said [our mother] was a saint, but you were the devil incarnate.”
Their oldest child David, 50, also spoke of how the family collapsed when his father’s crimes emerged.
He said: “For me, this is the trial of a whole family, which has been totally destroyed. And it’s very complicated to explain to your children that they won’t be seeing their grandfather again.
“Above all, we hope that in the future, we will be able to erase the man to my left from our minds.”
Throughout his testimony, David described his father as “this gentleman” – and expressed hope he and his co-defendants “will be punished for the horrors and atrocities they committed against my mother”.
Earlier, David described the “tsunami” the family went through when, in autumn 2020, they learnt of their father’s actions after he was arrested for “up-skirting” in a nearby supermarket.
In the space of two days, the children moved out all their belongings “from the house of horror” where the events took place in Mazan, a village in Provence.
In her final court appearance, Florian and David’s sister Caroline Darian, who uses a pen name, said she had been “forgotten” during the trial.
The 45-year-old added she was convinced she had also been drugged and sexually assaulted by her father, just like her mother.
“The only difference between her and me is the lack of evidence concerning me. For me, it’s an absolute tragedy,” said Ms Darian, who in 2022 wrote the book Et j’ai cesse de t’appeler Papa (And I stopped calling you Dad).
She told her father: “In your disgusting files you don’t look at me like a father looks at his daughter.
“But you will never have the courage to tell the truth.”
Pelicot has confessed to being a rapist but denies abusing his daughter.
Looking his father in the eye, David urged him to tell the court “about what you did to my sister, who suffers every day and will suffer for the rest of her life because I don’t think you’ll ever tell the truth.”
He added that his father should also come clean “about my son too”, referring to exchanges between Pelicot and one of his grandchildren, whom he had allegedly asked to “play doctor”.
Pelicot insisted he had done “nothing” to them.
The verdict is expected to be delivered by Dec 20 at the latest.