Dominique Pelicot admits to rape, acknowledges decade-long sexual abuse of wife
During his first testimony in a French court, Dominique Pelicot, accused of drugging his wife to allow himself and dozens of strangers to sexually assault her, confessed to being "a rapist" and admitted that Gisèle Pelicot "did not deserve" the nearly ten years of abuse she enduredd.
Pelicot, 71, begged her forgiveness, but said he was no different from 50 other men he recruited online to take part in the sexual abuse, adding they all knew what they were signing up for.
Decade of abuse
"I am a rapist, like the others in this room," he said, referring to his co-defendants.
"She did not deserve this," he added.
Dominique Pelicot is accused of administering anti-anxiety drugs to ex-wife Gisèle over a period of almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020.
He has been charged with raping her while she was unconscious, and recruiting dozens of other men he met online to do the same.
Man accused of enlisting strangers to rape drugged wife goes on trial in France
Pelicot had admitted the charges, but Tuesday was the first time he was speaking at any length since the trial began on 2 September.
He spoke of his "difficult" childhood, saying his parents "assaulted each other".
He briefly mentioned what he described as two "traumatic" episodes, being victim of a rape when he was nine years old and another on a construction site as an apprentice.
"I always carried these traumatising events with me," he said. "You're not born this way, you become it," he added.
"She did not deserve this," he said.
Read more on RFI English
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