At the Vaucluse criminal court,
Charly A. does not budge. “No”, he did not commit rape on Gisèle Pelicot. He admitted, certainly, to having gone to Mazan six times, sometimes for long hours, to having imposed multiple penetrations on the victim but invariably repeats that he had not “the intention”, that he thought participate in a “libertine scenario”. “I was told that she was pretending to sleep so I think she is pretending to sleep,” this 30-year-old man with a frail figure, sporting a mustache and a beard collar, tries to justify himself. His adolescent features contrast with the heaviness of the charges against him. Beyond his back and forth, he discussed with Dominique Pelicot the possibility of reproducing the facts about his own mother.
The first time Charly A. went to the Pelicots’ house was in January 2016. He was just 22 years old. As with all the accused, contact with Dominique Pelicot was made on Coco.fr. What exactly did he know, the court is trying to find out. “He told me his wife would be lying asleep,” he explains in a monotone voice. He swears that he was unaware until his sixth and final visit to Mazan, in June 2020, that Dominique Pelicot was drugging his wife without her knowledge. The person concerned, always quick to put down his co-accused, denies. “From the start, he knows,” says the septuagenarian, legs crossed, haughty gaze in his box. If he admits to having been “directive” and feeling “responsible” due to the young age of his partner, he swears not to have had “the impression of bribing him”.
“My wife’s birthday”
The interrogation is particularly sluggish. Charly A. is shifty. As soon as a question puts him in difficulty, he claims not to understand it or cites a memory lapse. Question after question, he hides behind the “scenario”. Why didn’t he react when he saw her fast asleep? “He always told me that she agreed, that there was no problem,” he eludes. Why did he come back again and again? “I don’t remember going there six times. For me, it was four times maximum. » Like many accused, he claims to have given in to the insistence of Dominique Pelicot. The multiple telephone exchanges actually tend to show that it was systematically the septuagenarian who contacted him. But why did he not block his number, the court asks. ” I don’t know. »
A little earlier in the morning, an expert psychiatrist, Mathieu Lacambre, spoke of a mixture of “opportunity” and “immaturity” to try to explain this act and its reiteration. He also highlighted his very intense consumption of pornography from his early adolescence. “Mr. Pelicot offers the object that was on the screen. It is an object because it is not conscious as a subject,” he insists.
Forty-seven videos were found on Dominique Pelicot’s hard drive. This Friday, the court viewed two, dating from their second meeting. Gisèle Pelicot snores loudly, they whisper, careful not to wake her. On one of the films, we see Charly A. inserting his penis into the victim’s mouth while Dominique Pelicot holds his wife’s jaw. In the second, we see them raping Gisèle Pelicot at the same time. The films are on the verge of sustainability. Charly A. stares at her feet, the entire room looks away. These images date from December 7, 2018. “What does this date correspond to? », asks Me Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, to the man who was her husband for fifty years. Silence. “On my wife’s birthday,” his tormentor finally replied.
Dominique Pelicot would have given him pills
But the Charly A. “case” is also distinguished by a project: that of reproducing the facts about the young man’s mother. On two videos from June 2020 – during his last visit to Mazan – we hear the two men discussing it. “And your mother, when do we fuck her?” », asks the septuagenarian. The person concerned mentions the presence of his little brother and specifies: “If it’s not this weekend, it’s the weekend after. » Head bowed, hands clasped in the box, Charly A. swears that he had no intention of taking action. However, he struggles to explain. “Mr. Pelicot asks if I can do this to my family or someone I know.” I say my mother. Like that,” he explains. And to clarify: “My mother, that’s the first thing I thought of. » Does he realize the vertigo of his words? Hard to say. His tone is neutral, his voice even.
Investigators discovered that Charly A. had sent a photo of his mother – who lived in Mazan – to Dominique Pelicot. “Because he is insistent,” explains the thirty-year-old. He admits that the septuagenarian gave him two or three pills and explained to him “how to proceed”. However, he swears he threw them away before returning home. “I expressly confirm that I never ever gave medicine to my mother,” he insists.
“I love his mother” like a son
If he is not tried for these facts, the court seeks to understand: how can a son consider such acts against his mother? Should we look for an answer in our childhood? Charly A. is evasive about his young years. He clearly talks about the painful separation of his parents and his stepfather’s violence towards him but swears he has no grievance against her. And love her like a son “loves his mother”.
In court, he clarified that these discussions around his mother were a “trigger” for him. From that moment on, he will no longer respond to requests from Dominique Pelicot. “When you have these pills in your hand, do you realize that behind all this, there is no consent? », Asks his lawyer Me Christophe Huguenin-Virchaux. ” Yes. »
Our articles on the Mazan rape trial
However, he cannot admit before this court that Gisèle Pelicot did not consent. “Do you think that saying “I didn’t intend” is enough to say that you did not commit rape? », insists Me Babonneau. “I didn’t mean to,” he says, over and over again.
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