Her speech was expected. Gisèle Pélicot, a rape victim, testified for the first time this Thursday, September 5 before the Vaucluse departmental criminal court in the Marzan rape trial, which she wanted to be public. Dressed in a long orange dress, she approached the bar as soon as the hearing opened to tell the inaudible story in a packed room.
“I would like to talk to you again about the events that for me began on September 19, 2020,” emphasizes Gisèle Pélicot. “It’s Mr. Pélicot who comes to pick me up at Avignon train station. He seems worried,” continues the septuagenarian who now calls her husband, and accused in the Mazan rape case, “Mr. Pélicot.”
“He starts crying, he tells me: ‘I did something stupid, I was caught in the shopping centre being photographed under women’s skirts'”, she says. Gisèle Pélicot assures the court that “Mr Pélicot” has never made “inappropriate gestures or obscene words in 50 years”. “I can’t imagine, at that moment, what will happen next”.
One last breakfast
Afterwards, there was a phone call from the police. They asked him to come and see them at the police station. The appointment was set for November 2 with “Mr. Pélicot”. On that November 2, “I didn’t suspect that it would be my last breakfast” with “Mr. Pélicot”.
Gisèle Pélicot is led into the office of one of the police officers upon her arrival at the police station. The officer asks her how she defines her husband. “I tell them he’s a great guy,” she explains at the bar of the Vaucluse departmental criminal court.
He then hands her a photo: “Do you recognize yourself?” Gisèle Pélicot does not recognize the individual or the woman in the photo. This woman was her. “I did not recognize myself. These are rape scenes, I am in my bed, inert, asleep, and I am being raped,” she explains to the court.
“I’m in shock, the shock is immense,” she continues. “My world is collapsing. Everything is collapsing. We were a close-knit couple with seven grandchildren.” She explains that she has “a hard time accepting the photos” she has just seen. “I refuse to watch the videos,” she continues.
“At that moment, I wanted to disappear,” explains Gisèle Pélicot, who had to tell her children that their father was in police custody. “I called my son-in-law and explained it to him. I asked him to stay with my daughter.”
Later, Gisèle Pélicot calls Caroline, her daughter. She tells her the horror: her father had her raped. “And I hear my daughter screaming like an animal. I call my two other sons to tell them. My children are worried about me.”
“I no longer have an identity at that point”
Today, they accompany her. On the bench of the civil parties, the three children hold each other, on the verge of tears. Gisèle Pélicot, for her part, continues her chilling story.
On November 3, she returned to the police station. The police then told her about the medication, the Temesta that her husband had used to drug her before raping her himself and having her raped by dozens of strangers recruited on the internet.
Gisèle Pélicot decides to leave. She leaves her house in Mazan. It is impossible for her to stay in this house. Another call. This time, the police contact Gisèle Pélicot’s daughter. He has other photos to show her.
Gisèle Pélicot leaves Vaucluse. “I am devastated by what is happening to me,” she explains to the court. And then begins the obstacle course. “I lost my husband. It is a betrayal. I no longer have an identity at that moment.”
- BFMTV.com
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