A French woman whose husband is accused of drugging her and then inviting dozens of strange men to rape her while unconscious appeared in court Monday for the first time. She waived her right to anonymity in the trial, the Daily Mail reported.
Gisele P., 72, came to the first day of the trial of Dominique P., 71, with her three children. The trial is taking place in Avignon, France.
The husband is accused of planning and executing a series of bizarre, psychotic and perverted sex crimes against his wife, specifically inviting and allowing dozens of men to come to his home near Avignon and rape his wife while she was unconscious. The crimes allegedly occurred between 2011 and 2020.
French police have documented 92 rapes by 72 men and 51 of these accused rapists are standing trial alongside the husband, who appeared as a “normal” father with a good job at the French power corporation, EDF.
Presiding judge Roger Arata has allowed the trial to be open to the public, in accordance with Gisele’s wish for “'complete publicity until the end” of the trial, her lawyer, Stephane Babonneau, told the court. She could have chosen a private trial without any publicity but “that's what her attackers would have wanted,” said another lawyer named Antoine Camus, according to the Mail.
"For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years" Camus said, noting that Giselle has “no recollection” of being repeatedly sexually violated, something she says she only discovered in 2020.
The couple were married in 1973 after a two year courtship. They had three children together, though Giselle has stated that her husband encouraged her to frequent swinger clubs – something she had no interest in doing. Nonetheless, Giselle described Dominique as a “great guy” who apparently annoyed a “normal sexuality,” or so she thought.
Their eldest son said he could discern no predatory, abnormal or abusive sexuality in his father, who had “always fulfilled his role.” The couple’s daughter also said her father appeared normal and was a positive influence on her life when very young.
Dominique allegedly went from normal to very abnormal in 2011 when he and Giselle were living near Paris and he is accused of orchestrating the first of many rapes.
The veneer over his life began to crumble in 2020 when he was caught by a mall security guard filming upskirt videos of women. He also filmed his wife being raped when she was unconscious and in a fetal position.
The images he caught are alleged to depict dozens of men raping his wife in their home in Mazan, a small town of about 6,000 that is 20 miles from Avignon. Dominique is accused of attracting rapists on a dark pornographic website that catered to sexual abuse fantasies.
Dominique allegedly told investigators that he used strong tranquilizers like Temesta to render his wife unconscious.
