“It’s inconceivable that he did this, he destroyed us…”: at the Mazan rape trial, the poignant testimony of the wife of an accused, herself a victim of rape
The wife of Jean-Pierre M., the first of the 50 co-defendants, gave moving testimony to the court on Wednesday, saying she was “devastated” by the revelation of the facts in the winter of 2021 and asserting that she would “never forgive” him.
Published on 09/11/2024 at 21:27
Was Jean-Pierre M., 63, a disciple of Dominique Pelicot, whose criminal scenario he supposedly modeled on his own wife? Unique among the 51 accused in the Mazan rape case, the case of “Rasmus” is a trial within a trial.
Unlike the other men tried since September 2 before the criminal court of Avignon, he is the only one not charged with the rape of Gisèle Pelicot, the now ex-wife of the main accused, at their marital home in Mazan (Vaucluse).
However, like most of these men, aged between 26 and 74, he is being prosecuted for aggravated rape and also risks up to 20 years in prison.
Emboldened, even manipulated, by Dominique Pelicot, eight years his senior, he had modeled his protocol, but on his partner. He drugged her with the same anxiolytic, provided by the one he had met on the Coco.fr website and who presented himself under the avatars of “tamer” or “pervert”. Then he raped her and had her raped by him.
All this while photographing his actions, again as Dominique Pelicot did, who meticulously preserved the memories of the sexual assaults on his wife.
At least twelve cases of rape were recorded by investigators on the partner of “Rasmus”, “Pierre” or “Kim” – the pseudonyms he used on Coco.fr -, ten of which Mr. Pelicot participated in, between 2015 and 2020, at their home in Drôme, around fifty kilometers from Mazan.
Mazan rape trial: Dominique Pelicot absent at least until Monday, “his health has worsened”
The only difference with Dominique Pelicot, the one that one of the co-accused described as “the conductor” of the Mazan rapes: he does not appear to have recruited any other man on the internet.
“I acknowledge the facts,” Jean-Pierre M., one of the 18 accused detained (Editor’s note: 32 others are appearing free, the 51st is on the run), had soberly stated at the opening of the trial.
“He was a wonderful person”
The woman who is still his wife, Cilia M., gave moving testimony to the court on Wednesday, saying she was “devastated” by the revelation of the facts in the winter of 2021 and asserting that she would “never forgive” him.
“It’s inconceivable that he did this. He was a wonderful person. He destroyed us. I’m waiting for the truth, for him to say why he got into this. Why he did this. We got along well. There was no argument. There was nothing. It’s incomprehensible,” explained this petite woman who, out of affection or even “pity” for her husband, did not file a civil suit.
Mazan rape trial: the police “saved my life”, says Gisèle P., the victim
“I want to protect my children as much as possible. They’ve been through enough. And they love their father. He was a kind, wonderful person. And of course I can’t forget everything. He’s the father of my five children. I’ve never had to say anything about my husband before this,” she said, in tears.
The questioning of Jean-Pierre M., scheduled for Thursday, may not take place due to the medical absence of Dominique Pelicot, who would return on Monday at best.
During the events, Jean-Pierre M.’s partner woke up on several occasions because her husband had given her too low a dose of anxiolytic medication, fearing for her health.
“I woke up with a start, I saw a man standing against the window, with a flashing light and my husband next to me. I didn’t have time to get up before the man had gone out. I ran after him, I asked my husband what was going on. He said it was to see my underwear and then he got caught in his lies (…) I was dressed, there was no indication of what had happened,” she explained on Wednesday.
Without a serious pathology, Jean-Pierre M. would have realized his fantasies of swinging and candaulism (Editor’s note: being excited by seeing your partner having sexual relations with others) “thanks to the meeting with Pelicot”, a psychiatrist expert specified on Wednesday.
Asked whether his father had been manipulated, his son said on Wednesday that he was “certain” of it: “I have the deep conviction that if he had not met this person, this would never have happened.”
