A person who repeatedly drugged his spouse unconscious and invited strangers to rape her for years needs to be given the utmost 20-year sentence in jail, French prosecutors have stated.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, has confessed to all the costs and admitted to mixing sedatives into her foods and drinks so he and others he recruited on-line may sexually assault her.
He beforehand informed the court docket: “I am a rapist just like all the others in this room.”
Some 50 different males are additionally on trial for allegedly taking part within the assaults on Gisele Pelicot, 71, who waived her proper to anonymity and insisted the trial in southern France was held in public to disgrace her attackers.
Prosecutor Laure Chabaud has requested the panel of judges for the utmost doable penalty for aggravated rape, 20 years, for Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband, who turns 72 this week.
“Twenty years between the four walls of a prison,” she stated. “It’s both a lot and not enough.”
Over the subsequent two days, prosecutors will say what sentences they search in opposition to the co-accused, who’ve argued they didn’t realise they had been raping Ms Pelicot or had not supposed to take action.
Ms Pelicot appeared immobile whereas the accused abused her in hundreds of movies and footage recorded by her former husband and proven in court docket over the previous couple of weeks.
Picture:
A court docket sketch of Dominique Pelicot in the course of the trial in September. Pic: Reuters
“The accused are trying to shirk responsibility by saying they thought Gisele Pelicot consented,” Ms Chabaud stated.
“But it’s not possible, today, in 2024, to consider that,” she stated, including the video and footage clearly confirmed Ms Pelicot was unconscious and due to this fact unable to offer her consent.
Round 20 suspects but to be recognized
Prosecutors stated Ms Pelicot’s husband had amassed a library of 20,000 photographs and movies displaying the abuse over practically a decade.
The proof helped investigators determine dozens of the lads he recruited, although round 20 others are but to be recognized.
Ms Pelicot, who may have demanded the trial be stored behind closed doorways, as a substitute requested for it to be held in public within the hopes it might assist different girls converse up and present victims don’t have anything to be ashamed of.
Debate round France’s rape regulation
The trial has sparked a debate about whether or not France ought to replace its rape regulation, which doesn’t require intercourse to contain consent.
As a substitute, prosecutors should show a perpetrator’s intent to rape utilizing “violence, coercion, threat or surprise”.
The trial in Avignon continues, with verdicts and sentences anticipated round 20 December.
