“It is time that we change the way we look at rape,” asked Gisèle Pelicot on Tuesday, during her last intervention at the Mazan rape trial, which for her is that of “cowardice” and a “macho society.” and patriarchal.
“For me, this trial will be the trial of cowardice” repeated the septuagenarian three times, facing her now ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, head down in the accused box.
“It is high time that the macho and patriarchal society, which trivializes rape, changes, it is time that we change the way we look at rape,” then continued Gisèle Pelicot, delivered for a decade by her husband to dozens of strangers that he recruited on the internet, after he drugged her.
“Since the start of this trial, I have heard a lot of things, it was inaudible…”, she indicated, recognizing that the succession of the 51 accused at the bar since the beginning of September, ended Tuesday morning with Philippe L., 62 years old, caused “a fatigue that is felt”.
“I have seen individuals appear in the dock who deny rape”, for the most part, and “I have a lot of difficulty facing this banality. I want to say to these men: at what point when you enter in this room did Ms. Pelicot give you consent? At what point in the face of this inert body do you become conscious? At what point are you not going to report him to the police?”
“I heard: ‘I was remote-controlled’, I heard ‘I drank a glass of water, I was drugged’. But when did they not hit?”
Gisèle Pelicot was then questioned by several lawyers about her relationship with her ex-husband or about how she could have failed to detect anything about the approximately 200 rapes suffered between 2011 and 2020, half of which were perpetrated by her husband.
“There are few who take responsibility for their actions. They have raped! I hear this gentleman saying 'a finger is not rape'. Let him wonder!” she protested.
She also refuted the fact that she could have been “under the influence” or “manipulated” during the 50 years of her life with her ex-husband: “Do you believe that I would have stayed with someone for 50 years? someone who manipulated me? (…) Absolutely nothing caught my attention!”
“Mr. Pelicot had a lot of fantasies, all of which I couldn't satisfy with him. But why did it come to this? I think what he wanted was Madame Pelicot and not another person. As I didn't want go to a swingers club, he said he found the solution by falling asleep.
“I lost 10 years of my life that I will never get back. Never! This scar will never close!”, she blurted.
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