On the 11th day of the Mazan rape trial, Dominique Pelicot speaks for the first time this Tuesday before the criminal court of Vaucluse. After eight days of absence for health reasons, the main accused is finally heard on his personality and on the facts. This 71-year-old retiree appears for having drugged his wife and for having sexually offered her to other men that he recruited on the internet, 50 of whom appear with him for aggravated rape.
“I acknowledge the facts in their entirety”he says in a wheezy voice for his first words at the microphone, from the booth where a chair adapted to his health problems has been installed. He sobs when he talks about the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and makes the connection with his action. “I only remember shocks and traumas from my youth”he sums up.
Then as his interrogation progresses, Dominique Pelicot dries his tears and appears more offensive. “Today I am a rapist like those concerned in this room. They all knew and cannot say otherwise.”he insists. One of the judges questions him about these videos that he has carefully stored on his hard drive “like a collector”. Dominique Pelicot responds, “There is an element of insurance: thanks to these videos, we can find those who participated in all this”In the room, which had been very quiet until now, more accused people were getting annoyed.
“The only person I manipulated was my wife.”
But the main accused insists, while the lawyers of the other accused ask him to specify its operating mode. “Everyone knew how it was before they came.insists Dominique Pelicot. And I checked: no one came without giving me a phone number, and then we saw each other very quickly. They knew very well why they were coming. They couldn’t come to my house without a phone number.”.
One of the defense lawyers reminds him of his “manipulative personality” reported during the first days of the hearing by certain witnesses and experts. “I am not a manipulator”answers Dominique Pelicot. “The only person I manipulated was my wife.”he insists, recalling the instructions to which these men complied. “They agreed to undress in the kitchen knowingly. I didn’t put a gun to their heads. I never took money, never forced or manipulated anyone.”says Dominique Pelicot.
Asked by the President about a possible complicity of his wifeDominique Pelicot responds again categorically: “In no case. In no case was she an accomplice, it was without her knowledge.”. “Did she at least once have the capacity to consent to or object to the choice of a partner?”the president relaunches. “No, she had no choice.”.
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