Investigators are called to testify this Wednesday, September 4, for the third day of the Mazan trial, in which 51 men are being tried for having raped Gisèle, drugged by her husband, at her home for ten years.
An investigation as extraordinary as it is appalling. After a long and raw account of the facts this Tuesday, it was the turn of the police to take the stand on the third day of the Mazan rape trial this Wednesday, September 4, to detail their investigative work from 2020 to 2022.
Rapes suffered by Gisèle P. for ten years in the marital home. Her husband drugged her with sleeping pills before raping her himself and having her raped by dozens of strangers recruited on the internet.
Around 9am, the former head of the Avignon judicial police and therefore the main director of the investigation, Jérémie Bosse Platière, begins his story. He explains how a classic investigation took an unusual turn with the discovery of thousands of video files and photos of the victim’s rapes on an external hard drive.
The investigation began when Dominique P., Gisèle’s husband, was arrested by a security guard at a supermarket in Carpentras (Vaucluse) after filming customers up their skirts. Searches were then carried out: there, investigators came across thousands of photos and videos in which his wife, unconscious and inert, was raped by strangers. Investigators estimate that between 2011 and 2020, Giselle P. was raped 92 times
Very explicit discussions
A process of identifying suspects then began, and lasted for two years. In total, 83 men were identified, 53 were identified and taken into custody during different waves of arrests. These men were aged between 26 and 74, and were firefighters, craftsmen, ex-police officers, electricians and journalists. Most of them were prosecuted for aggravated rape and faced up to 20 years in prison.
Although 35 of the 51 suspects admitted to having committed a sexual act, they deny having intended to rape their victims and thus contest the facts alleged.
Jérémie Bosse Platière, now interdepartmental director of the national police of Hautes-Alpes, nevertheless claims that the discussions between Dominique P. and the other men involved on Skype or the Coco forum before the rapes were very explicit. The husband talked about sleeping pills, he explained that his wife would be unconscious and that they could abuse her. The police officer explains that he then gave them instructions such as whispering so as not to make noise, undressing in the kitchen, not wearing perfume or even not smelling tobacco so as not to leave traces and arouse suspicion.
At the time of the rapes, the room was overheated so that the wife would remain asleep. And these men were invited to warm their hands on a radiator so that there would be no cold contact on Gisèle P’s body. Sometimes, they would wait for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes in the parking lot next to the home until the victim was truly asleep. Details that therefore go against the statements of the suspects.
The former head of the Avignon judicial police details the rapes of the 50 co-accused, or the 92 rapes one by one, based on the videos that will be shown in a few weeks as part of the hearing. He spends between 5 and 10 minutes on each of them and spares no detail. A raw, extremely shocking and trying testimony for the entire room. The family listens. Giselle P., for her part, does not waver, despite the horror of the facts described.
Melanie Bertrand and Juliette Brossault
