Man accused of filming at least 51 men raping drugged wife over a decade

Husband says ‘none of the men who came to his house gave up going through with sexual acts on his wife given her state’

Representational image: Woman drugged by husband and raped by dozens of men over 10 years (AFP via Getty Images)

A French man has been accused of drugging his wife and then recording at least 51 men raping her while she slept, in attacks that took place between 2011 and 2020.

Dominique P, a pensioner who had been married for more than 50 years, allegedly mixed the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam into his wife’s evening meal, La Monde reported.

He would then invite his ‘‘guests’’ into their house to rape his sleeping wife.

A total of 51 men between the ages of 26 and 73 have been identified, arrested and charged with rape following an inquiry launched in 2020 in the southern city of Avignon.

The suspect, from nearby Mazan, reportedly found the men on “a son insu” – a French internet forum where members discuss performing sexual acts on women without their consent and often when they are drugged.

The exchanges on the web forum were erased after being linked to a criminal investigation into paedophile, racist or anti-Semitic content and the sale of illicit substances.

Law enforcement officials learned about the videos during a preliminary investigation three years ago when the suspect was caught trying to film woman in a changing room with a hidden camera.

The videos were found on the man’s computer, where they were meticulously archived in a file called ‘‘Abuses’’. The titles of the hundreds of videos indicate a date, a first name and the nature of the actions, according to the French newspaper.

Investigators have identified 92 cases of sexual assault of the woman by 83 suspects, but are yet to identify all the men.

Tobacco and perfume were banned by the husband in order to avoid strong smells that could wake his wife. The men were asked to wash their hands in warm water to avoid a sudden temperature change and were made to undress in the kitchen to avoid leaving clothes in the bedroom.

The ‘‘guests’’ had to park near a school and walk in the dark to the house to avoid raising neighbours’ suspicions.

Some claimed they had no idea the wife had not consented to the sexual acts, while one person denied it was rape, saying: ‘‘It’s his wife, he does what he likes with her.’’

According to prosecutors in Avignon, the suspect insisted that ‘‘none of the men who came to his house gave up going through with sexual acts on his wife given her state’’.

‘‘He never used violence or threats against anyone so that rapes would be committed. Each individual was in possession of his free will to stop these acts and leave,’’ the prosecutors said.

When the woman was asked to talk about her husband in November 2020 during the initial investigation, she described him as a ‘‘great guy’’ and ‘‘kind and caring’’. She said he had tried to get her to agree to partner-swapping but she refused as ‘‘she didn’t like to be touched without having feelings (for someone)’’.

When the police informed her of the tapes, she reportedly began pieceing together the past. The woman said she had flashbacks and that the drugging could have been the reason behind her frequent fatigue and ‘‘absent-mindedness’’.

Medical examinations found she had been infected with four sexually transmitted diseases.

If the investigating magistrate follows the prosecutor’s indictment, a ‘‘historic trial’’ is expected to take place early next year with 52 defendants in the same box.

The woman has filed for a divorce.