A French court convicted Dominique Pelicot on Thursday of aggravated rape in a mass rape trial that has turned the victim, his wife Gisèle Pelicot, into a feminist icon.
The panel of judges in Avignon found the 72-year-old guilty of raping his wife and producing sexual images of his daughter and two daughters-in-law. The Court sentenced Dominique to 20 years in prison.
Possibly the most heinous crime of the many he was convicted of involved repeatedly drugging and sexually exploiting his wife over nearly a decade from 2011 to 2020 with other men.
During this time, Dominique would dose his wife’s food and drink with tranquilizers and sleeping pills without her knowledge, rendering her comatose. Then he would invite local men to their homes to rape his wife while she was unconscious.
Gisèle suffered from severe memory loss and frequent blackouts because of the drugs he administered, and she spoke of “losing 10 years of her life.”
During the trial which began in September, evidence was introduced that 50 men, now aged between 27 and 74, had visited the Pelicot’s home during this time.
Dominique admitted in court to all the charges levelled against him, including raping and drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of other men to rape her.
“I am a rapist,” he told the judges. “I acknowledge all the facts [of the case] in their entirety.”
Prosecutors asked the judges to hand him the maximum 20-year prison sentence for aggravated rape.