Avignon rape trial: Accused rapist says he ‘deeply regrets’ actions and thought Gisele Pelicot would wake up

Fabien Sotton, 39, was so ashamed of his conduct that he wrote to Gisèle Pélicot, 71, from his prison cell

Gisèle Pélicot arrives at the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France (AP)

One of 50 men accused of raping a French woman after she was drugged by her husband today said he ‘deeply regretted’ accusing her of being an ‘accomplice’ in a perverted sex game.

Fabien Sotton, 39, was so ashamed of his conduct that he wrote to Gisèle Pélicot, 71, from his prison cell.

He repeated his apology to her on Thursday at the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon, where he is facing up to 20 years inside for ‘aggravated rape’.

Sotton, an alcoholic who has spent large parts of his life sleeping rough, has been on remand in Pontet prison, along with Ms Pélicot’s husband, Dominique Pélicot, 72.

Courtroom sketch of Dominique Pelicot, who has allegedly drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot (Reuters)

The so-called ‘Monster of Avignon’ faces spending the rest of his life in a cell after inviting men like Sotton to the couple’s home in nearby Mazan after contacting them online.

Recalling visiting the house for the first time in 2018, Sotton told the court that Ms Pélicot was lying naked on a table.

‘I was in the mood, I didn’t think she was drugged,’ he said. ‘I thought she was an accomplice.’

Admitted that he performed a sex act on Ms Pélicot, Sotton said: ‘I acknowledge the facts but I did not turn up to rape her. I did not know that she would be unconscious.

‘I didn’t think she was asleep, I thought she was going to wake up.’

Looking at Ms Pelicot in court, Sotton said in a trembling voice that he ‘apologised’ for ‘having believed she was an accomplice’ in a perverted sex game.

He also wrote to her to apologise while he was in prison after his arrest in 2022, saying: ‘I deeply regret what I did.’

After listening to Sotton, trial judge Roger Arata said: ‘You admit that an unconscious person is absolutely not able to consent to anything?’

Sotton replied: ‘I admit it’.

Dominique Pelicot, Ms Pelicot’s husband for 50 years before their divorce was finalised last month, has maintained throughout the trial that Sotton, like all the other men, was ‘perfectly aware’ that his wife would be drugged without her knowledge.

Pelicot, a retired electrician, has admitted drugging his unsuspecting wife for almost ten years so the men could rape her.

In turn, Ms Pelicot has waived her right to anonymity in a case that has caused shock and outrage around the world.

On Wednesday, Husamettin Dogan, 43, and another co-accused said he had sex with Ms Pelicot despite thinking she ‘looked dead’.

Like many of the defendants, he said he believed he was taking part in a sex game organised by the couple after corresponding with Pelicot on a swingers’ website.

Ms Pelicot has been in the courtroom since the trial opened on September 2, supported by her three adult children.

Pélicot was first arrested in September 2020 for secretly filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras.

His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of pornographic videos and photos of women.

It was while in custody that Mr Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, which contained a folder called ‘abuse’.

There were some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020.

Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.

Pélicot’s sex ring involved advertising on an online forum called Without Her Knowing on the now-defunct coco.fr site.

Of the 83 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.

Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta – a powerful anti-anxiety drug – into her evening dinner.

Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.

In a separate case, Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.

He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing proved a case against him.

The Avignon aggravated rape case is due to last until December 21.

Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.