Dominique P. is being tried by the Vaucluse departmental criminal court for drugging his wife before handing her over to strangers. He will not be alone in the dock since 50 men of all ages and professions are appearing alongside him. Most of them are “ordinary people”.
Caroline Darian has made it her hobbyhorse. With her awareness campaign called #Mendorpas, this 43-year-old woman wants to raise awareness about the still little-known phenomenon of rape under chemical submission. Far from being reserved for the party scene, this practice often takes place within the family circle, thanks to substances found in the home medicine cabinet. In her case, Caroline Darian’s father drugged her mother for almost 10 years to deliver her to strangers.
50 men are being tried from Monday, September 2 – and until December 20 – by the Vaucluse departmental criminal court alongside this man who is now 72 years old. On the free online chat site, Coco.gg – often present in rape cases – the husband had created a forum entitled “Without his knowledge”.
It was there that he suggested to men to come to his house to rape his wife Gisèle, whom he had previously drugged by administering anxiolytics and sleeping pills, in her glass of water or in her meal. Particularly sordid abuses filmed, in which the husband participated.
Accused persons fully integrated into society
Dominique P. was caught during his arrest in 2020 after filming up the skirts of three women. More than 20,000 photos and videos, mostly concerning his wife, were then discovered in his computer equipment. In total, investigators recorded 92 rapes. Thanks to the analysis of this content, they counted 83 different individuals, 50 of whom were able to be identified.
The indictment order of some 400 pages, which BFMTV.com was able to see, reveals their profile: men of all ages and from all socio-professional categories. In this extraordinary case, where the atrocious seems to have no limits, the accused are often socially integrated, they are for the most part “Mr. Everyman”. Far from the image of the pervert who would rage in a dark street.
Dominique P. was a father, a clan leader, described as strict by his relatives, who had always worked until he set up his own business. The youngest of these accused was 20 years old at the time of the facts he is accused of, the oldest 68 years old. Most were placed in pre-trial detention while the investigation was pending and awaiting trial. Before that, they were construction workers, electricians, unemployed, temporary workers, workers, employees, retirees. But also firefighters, prison guards, journalists or soldiers. Of these, some have already been convicted for similar acts, others for child pornography. But among them, many are unknown to the justice system.
No typical profile
“What we observe is that there is no typical profile among rapists,” says Véronique Le Goaziou, researcher and author of the book. Rape. Sociology of a crimeShe mentions the victimization survey. National survey on violence against women in Franceconducted in 2000 among nearly 7,000 women. Beyond lifting the silence surrounding sexual violence, this study allows us to verify what the feminist movements in the 60s and 70s already suspected, namely the fact that rapes were committed by ‘Mr. Everyman’.”
“The major lesson of this study is that we found that the victims come from all social categories,” the sociologist continues. “However, in the vast majority of cases, rape is a crime of proximity.” It is therefore widespread in all levels of society. “Of course, there are cases where there is a difference in social category between the victim and the perpetrator, but these are marginal cases,” she adds.
Today, no large-scale study on rape perpetrators has been conducted. There is one by the National Observatory of Delinquency and Criminal Justice Responses (ONDRP) conducted in 2016, but it remains incomplete. This study, carried out from a sample of 688 rapes committed in 2013 and 2014 in the capital, establishes a composite portrait of the rapist. He is a 34-year-old man of foreign nationality who was already known to the police. However, these results – which only take into account a restricted territory – must be balanced with the fact that at the time only 10% of rapes were the subject of a complaint. A figure that has been constantly increasing since then.
The figures for convictions also provide some information. In 2022, the courts handed down 1,413 convictions for rape, or nearly half of the sentences handed down for a crime, according to figures published by the Ministry of Justice. Half of these were sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years in prison. Between 2007 and 2016, just under 13,000 convictions were handed down by the courts. Regarding the perpetrators, except for those convicted of gang rape and rape of a minor under 15, all ages are represented in an almost equivalent manner. But again, these data only relate to facts that have been reported and, above all, brought to justice.
Distortion of the image we have of the rapist
The DSK affair and then the #MeToo movement have, according to the researcher, helped to lift the veil on the diversity of perpetrators of sexual crimes. Revelations have been made in the business world, in cinema, in theatre, in sport. But the shared idea that we have of a rapist is hard to break. “In public opinion, there is a distortion of the image between the sexual abuser and the judicialized rape”, notes Véronique Le Goaziou who mentions an over-representation of perpetrators of rape from working-class backgrounds and, conversely, an under-representation of perpetrators from upper-class backgrounds.
There are several reasons for this: cases are less brought before the courts with fewer complaints or reports in privileged circles, which tends to change since the publication of Camille Kouchner’s book, The big familyin particular. Furthermore, higher socially ranked defendants often have more capacity to defend themselves when faced with questions from investigators or magistrates. Defendants who are also more financially comfortable and who can hire the best lawyers.
“We noticed that the closer we got to conviction, the fewer defendants we had from higher backgrounds, as if they disappeared during the proceedings,” she continued.
An opportunity, a passage to action
If the Mazan rape case shows that there is no typical profile of a sexual abuser, it also allows us to address, in part, the question of the act. Here again, there is little consistency. “There is one act per case,” explains Mickaël Morlet-Rivelli, a legal expert in psychology at the Reims Court of Appeal and a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Clermont-Auvergne and at the International Center for Comparative Criminology in Montreal.
“A move to action is always an opportune situation. It is the result of factors that combine, social factors, environmental factors and personality factors.”
“Personality is not necessarily the first factor in taking action,” he insists.
While there are stable factors that can influence recidivism – factors that can be sexual, having an antisocial lifestyle, lack of stability in relationships – others that could, at first glance, provide an explanation for this act, have, according to the expert, “neither a positive nor a negative impact”. He gives as an example “the fact of having suffered acts of violence during childhood, minimizing or failing to recognize the facts, the seriousness of these facts, lack of empathy, low self-esteem, suffering from a mental or psychotic disorder.”
Still far from the image that one might have of the rapist, the vast majority of people convicted of rape between 2007 and 2016 had never had any dealings with the justice system and are therefore not repeat offenders. Until his arrest, Dominique P. had no criminal record.
“Trivialization of rape”
Facing investigators and then the judge, Dominique P. explained that he had initially noticed that the anxiolytics taken by his wife allowed her to engage in certain practices that she had always refused. The septuagenarian claims that he did not initially intend to involve other men and that he had been influenced by bad encounters on the websites he frequented. A version undermined by the statements of the co-accused who mention a husband in charge, insisting that they have relations with his wife, encouraging the abuse.
In many cases, such as the one in Vaucluse, “rape is trivialized,” notes Me Caty Richard, a lawyer specializing in cases of sexual violence. Faced with the recording of their rape, the accused have many excuses. For some, there is no rape, the sexual relations being organized by the husband. “She’s his wife, he does what he wants,” declared one of the accused heard by the investigators. “These are things that we sometimes see, particularly in gang rapes, it’s the boyfriend who ‘makes available’ his girlfriend,” notes the lawyer.
Other men involved, who were old enough to be the victim’s children, claim that they did not know that the victim was asleep, explaining that they believed that she was pretending to be asleep, that it was a fantasy.
“If she is conscious and the victim says nothing, she is consenting,” continues Mr. Richard. “If she is asleep, if she is rendered unconscious, the perpetrator tells himself that he is not doing any harm. Since she is not in a state to consent, therefore she is consenting. That is the whole problem with chemical submission.”
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