By ROSELYN SAMUEL
What can be described as unimaginable has turned into the actual nightmare that 72-year-old Gisèle Pélicot recently disclosed to a French court, putting her story into the hearts of an entire nation. For nearly a decade, Gisèle’s husband, Dominique Pélicot, had secretly kept her drugged, at times inviting over 50 men into their home to commit sexual assault on her while she lay unconscious. What is even more horrific is that her husband recorded each of the assaults, he gathered more than 20,000 video clips from those criminal acts.
Imagine discovering, after years of marriage, that the most trusted person organized such atrocities-using you as an object of violence for others. Such was the reality in the case of Gisèle. It was only with his arrest in 2020 for voyeuristic photos of women in a supermarket that his secret life finally came into focus. Police found video after video on his devices of strangers raping his wife while she lay completely unaware (LBC )(TMZ ). Each of the rapists in these rapes ran from firefighters to journalists, not all being random attackers, many were invited back multiple times. Dominique had created an online network through which he had recruited those men to join in. Some claimed that they thought Gisèle was a willing participant, but Dominique himself said they all knew she was drugged. In his twisted mind, it was a perverse kind of addiction, but there aren’t any words to describe how horrific and betrayed Gisèle has been (LBC).
During an emotional testimony in court, Gisèle said, “When you see this woman, drugged, mistreated, dead on a bed-of course the body is not cold, it is warm, but I am like dead”. Words like those cut deep and get right to the point, not only for the violence she endured but for exposing the depth of her suffering. She unknowingly lived in a torturing world wrought by the one she once loved and trusted most (TMZ). Dominique’s defense tried to insinuate this was somehow a mutual fantasy, but the reality is, that Gisèle did not know about what was happening to her. Worse still, she contracted multiple sexually transmitted diseases from the assaults, adding another layer of horror to an already unfathomable ordeal (LBC) (TMZ).
But this isn’t a legal case purely, this is about those dark, blind spots in human behavior and how trust can break in a split second. It is a reminder that even the people closest to us can keep unimaginable secrets. Gisèle will meet her attackers in court. And it’s not just her crusade for seeing justice done but to piece together every part of her life fragment.
The trial, scheduled to last until December, will not restore what was violently taken from Gisèle, whose trauma will last a lifetime but we hope justice will be served.
For further reading on the disturbing case of Gisèle Pélicot and her husband Dominique’s crimes, here are key sources:
- LBC reported on how Dominique Pélicot drugged his wife and invited men to rape her over several years. They also provided details on the men involved and Dominique’s history of abuse.
- You can read more here: (LBC) ps://lbc.co.uk/news/husband-drugged-wife-strangers-rape-france/).
- TMZ covered Gisèle’s emotional testimony and her efforts to reclaim her life after discovering the years of abuse. They also discussed the charges(TMZ)Dominique and the men involved. Full story available here: TMZ.