French woman says police investigation of mass rape trauma 'saved her life'
Gisele Pelicot, 71, whose husband has admitted to recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged, took the stand for the first time on Thursday and said that police had saved her life by uncovering the abuse. In almost 90 minutes of testimony, she recounted her mysterious health problems and a fateful meeting with the police in November 2020, during which she was shown images of the sexual abuse orchestrated and filmed by Dominique P.
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged told his trial on Thursday that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes.
"The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot's computer," Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband -- one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial -- by only his last name.
Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious health problems and a fateful meeting with police.
For years, she said, she had had strange memory lapses and other health problems and thought she might have had Alzheimer's.
"Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me," she said.
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