At the Mazan rape trial, the chilling vision of consent delivered by the accused

JUSTICE – Will the Mazan rape trial, during which around fifty men are tried for having raped Gisèle Pelicot, 71, drugged without her knowledge by her husband Dominique Pelicot, make it possible to enshrine in law the notion of consent? In any case, this is Didier Migaud’s desire. Questioned on this subject this Friday on the France Inter morning show, the new Minister of Justice spoke out in favor of changing the criminal definition of rape.

As an echo of the debates, which were held this week before the Vaucluse criminal court, and during which the accused delivered definitions or a manipulation of consent reducing Gisèle Pelicot to a simple object at the mercy of her husband.

If some recognize the intentionality of the rape, for others, consent was in fact acquired, since they had obtained the agreement of Dominique Pelicot to have a sexual relationship with his wife. As if the latter could “consent in his place”. Others say they believed it was a libertine game, during which Gisèle Pelicot pretended to fall asleep.

“I admit that I wasn’t paying attention”

The testimony of Fabien S. is particularly evocative of the lack of consideration given to sexual consent. “In the excitement, I didn’t pay attention” that she did not wake up, said this 39-year-old man, heard on Thursday. “The shots where the woman is sleeping don’t interest me at all. But I admit that I didn’t pay attention.”he tried to explain.

A big user of coco.fr, since closed in June by French justice, Fabien S., incarcerated since his arrest in 2021, said he went to the couple’s house in Mazan in August 2018, after a few exchanges on coco.fr with Dominique Pelicot.

There, he finds Gisèle Pelicot, apparently asleep. “I was in the mood, I didn’t think she was on drugs. I thought she was an accomplice.”he clarified, explaining that he had stayed “ a quarter of an hour »rather than running away, because he said to himself that she “ was going to wake up”. “I recognize the facts but I did not go to rape her, I was not aware” that she would be unconscious, he assured. He then apologized to Gisèle Pelicot, seated in the room, for “ could have believed that she was an accomplice”.

“I said: ‘Your wife is dead’”

Same line of defense adopted by Husamettin D. Called to the stand on Wednesday September 25, the 43-year-old man “confirmed” not recognizing the facts. According to him, he met at the end of June 2019, on the site coco.fr, a man presenting himself as a member of a “ libertine couple » looking for another partner to participate in a scenario where the woman “ pretend to be asleep”.

Husamettin D. said he asked, on the site’s messaging system: “ Where is your wife? ». « She is next to me »his interlocutor would have replied. In the process, he would have received another message: “ I am indeed his wife, I agree to receive you”.

The same evening he went to the Pelicot home in Mazan (Vaucluse), where Dominique Pelicot took him into the couple’s bedroom. “I started the foreplay, I saw that she had no reaction. I said: “Your wife is dead”. He told me: “No, you make films”. He penetrated her and she raised her head a little.”he said.

The events continue for at least half an hour, until he clearly hears Gisèle Pelicot’s snoring and decides to “ to break “. But he says: “ People tell me I’m a rapist, it’s crazy. I’m not a rapist, that’s too much for me to bear. It’s her husband, I never thought that this guy could do that to his wife.”.

A magistrate of the court pointed out to him that he had been “ given the definition of rape »according to the Penal Code any sexual penetration or oral-genital act committed “ by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”. “Now I recognize that it is rape”blurted the accused.

“I became conscious in custody”

Questioned on Wednesday, Mathieu D., 53, immediately recognized the facts. According to him, Dominique Pelicot had made it clear to him that his wife would be “ put to sleep by sleeping pills administered by him”because the couple “ would then watch the videos together ». If he says he has “ became conscious in police custody » of Gisèle Pelicot’s lack of consent, Mathieu D. assures that he too did not have the impression of “ commit rape » during the facts. “That’s the problem with recognition that isn’t recognition”commented Stéphane Babonneau, lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot.

For his part, Dominique Pelicot maintains that all the other men who came to their home were “fully aware” that his wife would be drugged without his knowledge. The fifty men, who appear for aggravated rape, risk up to twenty years in prison.

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