Although HIV positive, one is accused of having come and raped Gisèle Pelicot six times without a condom; another for wanting to reproduce the same process of chemical submission on his own partner. The cases of eight new defendants are being heard this week at the Mazan rape trial, in southeastern France.
After a week's interruption, the criminal court resumed its work by examining the personality of these men who are among the fifty accused of having sexually assaulted Gisèle Pelicot, at the invitation of her ex-husband who drugged her. Absent on Monday, Gisèle Pelicot should return to Avignon on Tuesday. Dominique Pelicot, 71, silently attended the proceedings in the accused box.
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Once again, investigations revealed experiences of sexual violence among some of the accused. The story of the childhood of Romain V., a 63-year-old HIV-positive single man, who went to Mazan six times without ever wearing a condom, left the president of the court Roger Arata speechless.
Romain V. lived a childhood worthy of Misérables by Victor Hugo: confinement in the cellar, food deprivation, physical, psychological and sexual violence at the hands of relatives worthy of the Thénardiers, all in an incestuous climate. This man, who subsequently experienced only a succession of failures, will be questioned later in the week on how he contracted HIV, when he was around fifty, a subject he did not so far not clearly mentioned.
Cédric G. continued “because he didn’t get caught”
The court also looked into the case of Cédric G., a 50-year-old computer technician in “high needs” sexual, according to the personality survey. Raped by an uncle around 12 or 14 years old, he was recruited like the others on the site coco.fr by Dominique Pelicot to come and rape his wife, sedated without his knowledge.
But he is also suspected of having intended to reproduce, with the help of Dominique Pelicot, who would have liked to make him his disciple, the same process of chemical submission on his own partner, a project which he ultimately abandoned.
Heard as a witness, one of his former companions said she left him after realizing that he was broadcasting intimate videos of her on swingers' sites, videos accompanied by all her contact details, as he did for other women. Another ex-partner of Cédric G. claimed that he had pushed her into prostitution after promising her marriage. A third, with whom he had a parallel relationship and to whom he had also promised marriage, assured that Cédric G. had explained to her after his arrest “knowing that he was deviant but that he continued because he didn’t get caught.”
Verdict expected on December 20
Ludovick B., a 41-year-old unemployed temporary worker, is suspected of having raped Gisèle Pelicot in 2019 with the complicity of her ex-husband, at the home of their own daughter Caroline Darian, in the Paris region. He too had belatedly revealed to his loved ones that he had been the victim of rape as a teenager committed by the father of a friend, a fire commander, which would have scarred him for life, according to his family doctor who came to the stand for him. providing unfailing support, just like the mother of his two children and two friends.
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The other defendants this week are Cendric V., a 42-year-old restaurant manager; Saifeddine G., 36-year-old truck driver; Paul G., 31-year-old worker, aged 22 at the time of the events, or Omar D., 36-year-old maintenance worker. Hassan O., 30, still subject to an international arrest warrant, will be tried in his absence.
After the hearing of the psychological experts on Tuesday, the facts with which they are accused will be discussed from Wednesday.
Of the 51 defendants in this trial, emblematic of the questions of chemical submission and consent, 36 have been paraded since September 2. The verdict is expected on December 20. Most are being prosecuted for aggravated rape and risk up to 20 years in prison. But very few accept these facts, persisting in having been invited or even lured by Dominique Pelicot to participate in the scenario of a libertine couple.
