Gisèle Pelicot rape trial latest: Security guard who caught Dominique says he saw ‘fear in his eyes’
Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique Pelicot admitted to drugging and raping her for almost a decade
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French President Emmanuel Macron has praised mass rape victim Gisèle Pélicot for her dignity and courage which has “moved and inspired France and around the world”.
It comes as her children condemn the “low” sentences in France’s most shocking rape case which saw 51 men convicted for a total of 428 years.
Ex-husband Dominique Pelicot wept as he was convicted, after he drugged and sexually assaulted her over a number of years.
But his children believe the verdicts handed down to the guilty men in the case were too mild, a family member said.
“The children are disappointed by these low sentences,” said the family member, asking not be identified, after a court hearing in Avignon.
Prosecutors had requested sentences totalling 652 years, but the sentences handed out by judges came up 224 years short of this.
“I’m thinking about all the other families affected by this case and the unrecognised victims in these stories that are often in the shadows - you share my struggle,” Ms Pelicot added.
Dominique Pelicot has been jailed for the maximum term of 20 years. He previously admitted that for years, he drugged his wife so he and strangers could abuse her while he filmed it.
‘Mr Everyman’: Who are the 51 men who sexually abused Gisèle Pelicot?
Every word of Gisele Pelicot’s statement outside courtroom where 51 men were sentenced for abusing her- As her husband is jailed for his heinous crimes, we must ask: how many more Gisèle Pelicots are there?
Where are all the men horrified by Gisele Pelicot’s rape trial?
How Gisèle Pelicot shamed ‘Mr Everyman’ during the rape trial which shocked the world
Sitting across a courtroom from the husband who drugged and raped her for a decade, along with the 50 other men he invited to join in the attacks, Gisèle Pelicot was the epitome of dignity.
After bravely choosing to waive her right to anonymity, the grandmother has looked each of her rapists in the eye during a gruelling three-month public trial which horrified the world.
The 72-year-old’s remarkable courage in the face of unfathomable abuse and her simple message – that she and other victims of sexual crimes have no reason to feel ashamed – has inspired conversations about rape culture across the globe as she became a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence.
Read the full article here:
How Gisèle Pelicot shamed ‘Mr Everyman’ during the rape trial which shocked the world
The 72-year-old’s simple message – that she and other victims of sexual abuse have no reason to feel ashamed – has inspired conversations about rape culture in France and across the globe, Crime Correspondent Amy-Clare Martin writes
Every word of Gisele Pelicot’s statement outside courtroom
Dominique Pelicot has been found guilty by a French court of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body in a case that has horrified the world.
All of Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants were also found guilty of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, while their victim, Gisèle Pelicot, sat in the packed courtroom to hear the sentencing, having waived her right to anonymity.
Gisèle, 72, has become a symbol of female courage and resilience during the three-month trial and crowds of supporters outside the courthouse in the southern city of Avignon cheered as she appeared after the verdicts had been read out.
Read the full article here:
Every word of Gisele Pelicot’s statement after 51 men sentenced for abusing her
Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique Pelicot admitted to drugging and raping her for almost a decade
Macron says Gisèle Pélicot has ‘moved and inspired’ France and the world
French President Emmanuel Macron has praised Gisèle Pélicot for her dignity and courage, and thanked her following her husband’s trial, which has shocked the world.
In a post on social media, he wrote: “Thank you Gisèle Pélicot.
“For this word of justice in the name of which you faced the ordeal with your head held high. For women, who forever have a scout to speak and fight for.
“For all of us, because your dignity and your courage have moved and inspired France and the world.”
Jess Phillips MP says Gisèle Pelicot to ‘change the world'
Gisèle Pelicot will change the world, the UK’s minister for stopping violence against women and girls has said.
Speaking to The Mirror, Jess Phillips said the 72-year-old deserved “every award” after bravely waiving her anonymity to expose her husband’s crimes.
“The Gisèle Pelicot court case has made the world stand still with horror and respect for her,” she said.
“I think that Gisèle Pelicot deserves every award that could possibly ever be given to her, not because of just her bravery, but because I think her story is going to change the world.”
“Absolutely we will take learnings from the Gisèle Pelicot case. I imagine that’s the same around the world.”
Youngest man to rape Giséle Pelicot committed the horrific crime on the day his daughter was born
The youngest man to rape Giséle Pelicot after her predator ex-husband drugged her did so on the day his first daughter was born.
Joan Kawai, who has been jailed for 10 years, was just 23 when he visited Ms Pelicot’s family home in southern France to abuse her five years ago.
The former French conscript was among 47 men, including Ms Pelicot’s former husband Dominique Pelicot, convicted of rape at a packed French courthouse on Thursday.
Youngest man to rape Giséle Pelicot committed the crime on day his daughter was born
Giséle Pelicot was drugged and raped by her husband for over a decade as dozens of other men joined in
‘How much dignity’ - Spanish prime minister
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has commended the “dignity” of Gisèle Pelicot.
“How much dignity. Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot. Let shame change sides,” he said in a post on X.
Watch: Celebration outside French court as guilty verdicts announced in Gisele Pelicot mass rape case
Gisèle Pelicot was cheered as she left with her family and flanked by police
Supporters shouted, “Thank you Gisèle” and “Bravo Gisele” as she exited the court. Others applauded and ululated.
After Pelicot was driven away, supporters gathered in a circle and sang songs including the anthem of the women’s liberation movement in the early 1970s.
Coco: The anonymous chat site dubbed the ‘den of predators’ that enabled the mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot
It was a free chat site with a simple interface allowing users to communicate anonymously.
But the shut-down Coco forum turned into a “den of predators” with it now emerging it was used by Dominque Pelicot to organise the horrifying mass rape of his ex-wife Gisèle.
Pelicot, who was jailed for 20 years on Thursday, co-ordinated his abuse by finding many of the men who raped his wife on the illicit chat site, and then through the platform was able to conceal his crimes.
Inside a packed Vaucluse criminal courtroom in Avignon, 47 men, including Pelicot, were convicted of rape. Two others were found guilty of attempted rape, and another two guilty of sexual assault.
Alexander Butler reports:
Coco: The chat site that enabled the mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot
Giséle Pelicot’s husband used a pseudonym on the now-banned chatroom to invite strangers to his home to rape her
'Consent' missing from French rape law, says legal expert after Pelicot verdict
The Pelicot mass rape trial which shook France and beyond is challenging the limits of existing legislation, a French legal expert said.
“I was relieved to see that all the accused had been convicted and, secondly, surprised by certain decisions and by the lack of severity (...) of certain decisions,” said Catherine Le Magueresse, a legal expert whose work looks at feminist criticism of law and sexual violence.
“Today the average sentence for rape is around 11 years and a few months, so that means that we are below the average sentence handed down, even though we have been constantly told that this was an extraordinary trial and that the way in which the accused had raped was particularly despicable.”
Le Magueresse said that if French rape law had included the principle of consent, none of the co-accused would have received lighter sentences, a fact she said she found extremely worrying.