Dominique Pelicot described himself as “the devil” during a court appearance, nine months after he was jailed for 20 years for raping his ex-wife and inviting dozens of strangers to abuse her.
Mr Pelicot, 72, was at the Nîmes Appeal Court on Tuesday to give evidence after one of the men convicted of rape at the end of last year sought to overturn the verdict.
He told the court that Husamettin Dogan, 44, knew Gisèle Pelicot, 72, was sedated and came to their home deliberately to abuse her, as Mr Dogan insisted he believed Ms Pelicot had consented to a sex game in which she pretended to be asleep.
“He had that information from the start,” Mr Pelicot told the court, having been brought from jail. “They all knew. They all came with the same intention.”
Mr Pelicot rejected Mr Dogan’s argument in support of his wife, insisting: “I know what they say, but I know what they did and I know what I did. I have admitted what I did and I am paying for it.”
Asked separately why his wife never suspected that she was being drugged and abused by him, Mr Pelicot said: “I did everything so that she wouldn’t notice. The person has confidence in you and does not notice the devil.”
At the end of his evidence, Mr Pelicot apologised to his family. His ex-wife attended the hearing with her son Florian, 46.
Ms Pelicot is under no obligation to attend the proceedings. One of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, told the BBC she “feels she needs to be there and has a responsibility to be there until the end of the proceedings”.
Tuesday was the first time Ms Pelicot had seen her former husband since he was jailed last year.
The three-month trial ending in December rocked France, bringing sexual violence against women into the spotlight and inspiring rallies in support nationwide.
Mr Pelicot, a former electrician and estate agent, crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication in his then-wife’s food, and invited strangers to abuse her while she was unconscious at their home in Mazan, Provence, between 2011 and 2020.
Mr Dogan was one of 51 men convicted, and the only one to challenge the verdict. Around 20 could not be identified and remain at large.
Mr Dogan, who was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to nine years in prison, told the appeal trial this week: “I never intended to rape that lady.”
He claims he was manipulated by Mr Pelicot, believing that his wife had consented to a sex game in which she would pretend to be asleep.
The court in Nîmes was told on Tuesday that Mr Dogan had sex with Gisèle and that she was “inert”.
Mr Pelicot filmed and photographed her, storing the images on a computer file called “abus” (abuse).
He said that he met Mr Dogan, a married father of one, on a chatroom and told him clearly that he had drugged his wife and was seeking men to come and abuse her.
Mr Pelicot also denied putting pressure on Mr Dogan to have sex with his wife.
“I never forced anyone, they never needed me,” he said on the second day of the trial.
He added: “All the defendants said that I blackmailed them. It is absolutely not true,” he said. “I know what they say but I know what they did and I know what I did. I have admitted what I did and I am paying for it.”
Mr Pelicot told the court in tears that he remains in solitary confinement, visited only by his lawyer.
“The only things that keep me going are writing and literature,” he said.
During last year’s trial, many of the defendants claimed that they did not realise that Ms Pelicot had not consented, claiming they believed it was the couple’s fantasy and that they had been “tricked”.
The trial, lasting 16 weeks, saw 46 men found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault.
