At the helm
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For a decade, Dominique P. invited men to rape his wife, who drugged her into unconsciousness. At the trial of 51 of them, a commissioner explained how, in particular from carefully archived videos of the events, investigators traced them back to the suspects.
Tuesday had already been a trying day for the civil parties. Gisèle P. had contained her emotions, displaying a dignified face despite the raw reading of the long report of the investigation – heavy with 31 volumes – recounting the facts for which 51 men have appeared since Monday for rape or sexual assault, starting with her ex-husband, Dominique P. From this trying story with sordid details, the main victim and her children had emerged “shaken”, according to one of their lawyers. Tensions rose a notch this Wednesday: the hearing of the head of investigation was an opportunity for several defense lawyers to assert the line already outlined the day before. While fourteen of the 51 accused have admitted the facts alleged, presenting their apologies to the victim, the others refuse to be called “rapists.”
Called to the bar at the opening of the hearing, Divisional Commissioner Jérémie Bosse Platière first detailed the tedious investigative work of the police officers. It all started on September 12, 2020, when the security guard of a supermarket in Carpentras caught a man filming under women’s skirts. Dominique P., 68 years old at the time, immediately confessed, mentioning “impulses”His two mobile phones were seized as well as a computer, during a first
