Romain V. delivered a confusing and often contradictory account to the criminal court of Vaucluse (south of France) on Wednesday in an attempt to explain why he had gone to Mazan six times to sexually assault Gisèle Pelicot, refuting any “rape”. » against him despite damning videos.
This 63-year-old man, currently detained, alternately justified his presence there between December 2019 and 2020 by “fear» by Dominique Pelicot, through his desire to seek “you lien social” or claiming to have acted like “a self-guided zombie».
His defense provokes the astonishment of the court
«I don't ask myself any questions, like a self-guided zombie. I don't even understand how he (Dominique Pelicot, NLDR) was able to make me come six times“, he explained, arousing the amazement of the court and in particular of its president, Roger Arata.
The latter asked him if at any time he had bothered to require the victim's consent, to which the accused replied “having had the husband's authorization”, an argument already put forward by several of the 51 men prosecuted in this extraordinary affair.
To contradict his random justifications, the civil party requested the broadcast before the court of four videos among the dozens found on Dominique Pelicot's hard drive where the acts committed were meticulously referenced. In these, we see him performing several sexual acts on Gisèle Pelicot who, at no time, reacts.
“I did not intend to rape madam”
«I apologize for the acts alleged against me. I regret everything that happened. I had no intention of raping madam. I have regrets, a lot“, he said. Gisèle Pelicot doesn't even listen to his words, preferring to speak to her psychologist sitting next to her.
Prosecuted for aggravated rape, he risks, like most of the 51 accused in this trial, 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
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