“Men are big children,” pleads Jean-Pierre M.’s lawyer. – Libération

Theatrical, Patrick Gontard was not included in the program for this Wednesday, November 27. Agreeing to advance his plea, the counsel of Jean-Pierre M., the only accused not to be prosecuted for the rape of Gisèle Pelicot, but of his own wife who was also sedated, first engaged in a long diatribe on the holding of this trial, almost making us forget the reason for his presence. ““This trial must be a starting point for new relationships between men and women”: it’s a bit ambitious, firstly because not all men are like those behind us,” he reprimands, quoting the public prosecutor.

Continuing the trial of the trial, he attacks the supporters of Gisèle Pelicot, even inviting the court to «s’expurger» of some of them. “There were smoke bombs the other day [lundi à l’occasion de la journée internationale de lutte contre les violences faites aux femmes, ndlr], I felt like I was at the Vélodrome stadium with ultras. Do you think it’s worthy of justice to be there spewing hatred?” On several occasions, Me Gontard then attempts to contrast the causes of foreign women (citing Gaza, Iran, Syria) to those of French women. “What lessons they give us [les militantes féministes, devine-t-on, ndlr] when they are incapable of talking about raped women in other countries? It's easy to come to a democracy and say that men are rapists. Go take a trip to Iran!”

“I am the Principality of Monaco”

Patrick Gontard then attempts to describe his positioning in a fanciful formula: “I am the principality of Monaco because Mr. M. never defiled Madame Pelicot. What he did is no more pleasant. […] If he had appeared, with Pelicot, alone, without any civil party, I know that you would never have required seventeen years of criminal imprisonment. he insists. Esteeming his client “carried away by the Pelicot tornado”, he describes it as “collateral damage”. Jean-Pierre M., 63 years old, is accused of having reproduced Dominique Pelicot's modus operandi, by following his advice. The main accused in this trial went to the home of this former driver in an agricultural cooperative around ten times between 2015 and 2020, participating in the rapes or attempted rapes of Jean-Pierre M.'s wife on four occasions. Only the awakening of his wife, Sonia (1), who surprised Dominique Pelicot near the window, put an end to this violence. The victim did not wish to become a civil party.

“You have soiled what was most dear to you, the one who accompanied you, you have soiled your relationship, your family and even your name,” his lawyer tells him. Who describes the 50 men sitting behind him as “drifting”. “When I see in this courtroom what libertinism can be, I am vaccinated. It's social poverty: workers, a disabled person, civil servants, truck drivers who live alone. he says, even though the majority of the accused were in a relationship at the time of the events. Their “only link with the outside” would be «Internet», that the lawyer places in the dock.

“He will repeat what his father did”

Me Gontard ends up returning to the chaotic childhood of his client, victim of abuse, incest, evokes the death of his alcoholic mother at 40, herself a victim of sexual violence, the suicide of his sister. “He agreed to do it on his wife because he is going to repeat what his father did on his mother,” he insists. Then to rent the “loyalty” of this man, father of five children, while taking care not to mention the sexual violence inflicted on his partner while she slept, well before 2015. The lawyer adds, as if to absolve him of responsibility: “Women are superior to us in that they give life. Men are big children, they feel a little neglected.”

Patrick Gontard then refutes the place of «disciple» by Dominique Pelicot attributed to his client: “I don’t have the feeling that this man had the strength or the desire to repeat identically at a level that was that of Pelicot.” The dose «minimal» of anxiolytics administered proved, according to him, that he wanted a “external event makes it stop”. Insisting on the need for the court to protect itself from the influence of “public opinion”, the dare : “When, at Christmas, we talk to you about the Pelicot affair, I don’t want you to think that we were a little harsh on Mr. M..”

(1) The first name has been changed.