Taking the stand in France’s greatest ever rape trial, Patrice N, 55, an electrician from the southern city of Carpentras, mentioned he was a “jovial” man and a enjoyable dad who as soon as educated youth soccer groups and had a “nice respect for ladies”.
He denied the costs of rape, claiming rape had by no means been his intention. “To my thoughts, it was a recreation,” he advised the courtroom.
Patrice N is one among 51 males on trial for the alleged rape and assault of Gisèle Pelicot, a former logistics supervisor, who has develop into a feminist hero for insisting the trial ought to be held in public.
For a nine-year interval from 2011 to 2020, Gisèle Pelicot was unknowingly sedated and raped by her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, who crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety remedy into her meals and invited males to rape her at their residence within the picturesque village of Mazan in Provence.
Gisèle Pelicot advised the courtroom this week that she felt “destroyed” however was pushed by “the dedication to vary society” and expose “rape tradition”.
After dozens of accused males have testified that they didn’t assume what occurred was rape, her attorneys mentioned the courtroom hearings have uncovered a “profound downside” in society’s attitudes to sexual violence.
Regardless of video proof in courtroom displaying Gisèle Pelicot in an unconscious state, loud night breathing loudly, Patrice N claimed he had not observed that she was sedated on the Monday evening in February 2020 when he drove 20 minutes to the {couples}’ residence after he he had been in touch with Dominique Pelicot on-line.
Dominique Pelicot ushered Patrice N into the bed room, the place he stayed for about one hour with the lights on. It was solely on the finish of the go to, when he mentioned, “Your spouse appears to be like like she’s actually asleep”, that Dominique Pelicot mentioned he gave his spouse “capsules”.
Patrice N mentioned he requested if this occurred typically, to which Dominique Pelicot replied that after drugging his spouse, he would additionally take her to motorway laybys and “hand her to males”. Patrice N mentioned: “I advised him he was sick, I walked around the mattress and left right away … He didn’t even textual content me to see if I acquired residence OK.”
One of many judges requested Patrice N: “You heard him say he delivered his drugged spouse to males in laybys, however you probably did nothing to assist her, you didn’t report it?”
He mentioned: “I didn’t wish to waste my time on the police station. I’m a humble neighbourhood electrician. If I went to the police and mentioned she’s unconscious, who would have believed me?”
Gisèle Pelicot, watched from her seat in courtroom, and shook her head.
From the dock, Dominique Pelicot advised the courtroom that he didn’t hand his then spouse to males at roadsides, however had as soon as drugged and raped her himself in a motorway layby on the best way again from their daughter’s vacation residence.
Patrice N, like a number of different males accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot, was supported in courtroom by a variety of girls who knew him who mentioned they didn’t assume him able to rape. A longtime feminine buddy, who labored as an schooling professional, advised the courtroom that Patrice N had all the time been a “teddy bear”, “wasn’t even a skirt-chaser” and wasn’t the kind to rape. A care-worker, who 16 months in the past turned Patrice N’s girlfriend regardless of figuring out he was charged with rape within the Pelicot case, mentioned: “He treats me like a princess.”
Three accused males in courtroom this week did take the uncommon step of admitting rape, saying they knew Gisèle Pelicot had been drugged and was unconscious.
Abdelali D, 47, a former canteen employee who had suffered a stroke since his arrest, mentioned he went to the Pelicots’ residence twice and raped Gisèle Pelicot when she was in a comatose state. The primary time, one January evening in 2018, he had requested his then girlfriend to drive him to the Pelicots’ village and wait an hour for him within the automobile. She advised the courtroom she had pushed him as a result of she was anxious about him driving drunk. She thought he was assembly a pair for a sexual encounter, however had not sought particulars. “I didn’t wish to know,” she mentioned. She described Abdelali D as somebody who “drank morning, midday and evening”.
Jean-Luc L, 46, a mirror-maker, admitted raping Gisèle Pelicot on two events in 2018 and 2019 whereas she was unconscious. He had at first thought that as a result of her husband had consented for her, “it wasn’t towards the legislation”. He advised a psychologist after his arrest that the definition of rape was as a substitute one thing that “occurs on the street” within the type of “for those who don’t need it, I’ll hit you”. However in courtroom, he admitted raping Gisèle Pelicot in her personal bed room.
The courtroom heard Jean-Luc L had fled Vietnam by boat along with his mom as a toddler and had lived in refugee camps earlier than coming to France. His second spouse, of 10 years, and the mom of his two youngest youngsters, was additionally Vietnamese. By an interpreter, she advised the courtroom that as a result of her personal mom was in poor health on the time, she had not needed intercourse along with her husband. Requested how she felt when she realized of the rape fees towards her husband, she mentioned in a mushy voice: “I used to be very unhappy, in shock. However I feel as a result of I refused him on a regular basis, as a person he needed to look elsewhere.”
Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, advised the courtroom: “You thought that since you refused a sexual relationship, as a result of your mom was very in poor health and your thoughts was on different issues, you thought you had a task in what occurred, and Gisèle Pelicot couldn’t assist reacting. For her, it’s not since you refused a sexual relationship that it led to this occurring …”
“There may be by no means an obligation to have sexual relations together with your husband. Do you perceive that? … Gisèle Pelicot says you don’t have any accountability in anyway in the truth that your husband determined to do what he did.”
The courtroom heard that Dominique Pelicot had instructed he additionally drug Jean-Luc L’s spouse so the 2 males might rape her. “I advised him I’d give it some thought simply to please him,” mentioned Jean-Luc L. “However intercourse wasn’t actually her factor.”
Quentin H, 34, was a jail guard in Avignon who had offered MDMA medication on the web site the place Dominique Pelicot sought males. He admitted raping Gisèle Pelicot in her mattress in November 2019. He mentioned he realised “one thing wasn’t proper”, and Gisèle Pelicot wasn’t shifting. Requested why, as a jail warden, he didn’t report this to police, he mentioned: “I used to be ashamed, I needed to get it out of my head.”
The trial continues till 20 December.
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