Pelicot rape trial: Gisèle ‘never regretted decision to go public’ as sobbing ex-husband jailed for 20 years
Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique Pelicot admitted to drugging and raping her for almost a decade
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Courageous mass rape victim Gisèle Pelicot has said she “led this fight” for her grandchildren, after France’s most shocking mass rape case saw 51 men convicted for a total of 428 years.
Ex-husband Dominique Pelicot wept as he became one of 51 men convicted in a mass rape and sexual abuse trial involving Gisèle Pelicot, that saw her drugged and sexually assaulted over a number of years.
Her children and grandchildren were at the forefront of her mind throughout the three-month long court case in Avignon, southern France. "It’s also for them that I led this fight,” she told reporters outside the court.
“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. She “never regretted” making the decision to waive her anonymity.
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.
Prosecutors had requested sentences totalling 652 years, but the sentences handed out by judges came up 224 years short of this.
Comment | Where are all the men horrified by Gisele Pelicot’s rape trial?
Gisèle Pelicot’s story is traumatic, extreme, and yet another example of men and their unfair, ingrained social power over women – her experience should be another moment when society says “enough is enough”.
And yet there is a group of people desperately distant from the urgent activism: men themselves.
Pelicot’s powerful testimony to a courtroom about her male attackers should be persuasive enough to reveal to men the gross injustice and deep-rooted unfairness at the heart of our patriarchal society.
It is now on men – all men – to speak out. The harrowing descriptions of a woman being drugged and raped cannot be ignored or passed off as an indefensible extreme which requires no vocal response. Silent disapproval or disgust is not enough.
Daniel Reast writes:
Where are all the men horrified by Gisele Pelicot’s rape trial?
Men must speak out and challenge each other, says Daniel Reast – it’s the least we can do
‘Shame changes sides’ - supporters’ placards outside the courthouse
Supporters outside the courthouse have been holding placards in support of Gisèle Pelicot as she watched her abusers, including ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, have guilty verdicts read out against them.
“So that shame changes sides”, reads one. Another says: "All the women on earth support you, thank you Gisele".
Cheers outside courthouse as guilty verdicts came through
A cheer erupted outside the court in the sourthern French city of Avignon as news of the first guilty verdicts emerged.
The trial has prompted rallies around France in support of Gisèle Pelicot, in a case which has appalled the world.
Ms Pelicot has become a symbol of courage and strength, particularly for victims of rape and sexual abuse, after staring down her abusers day after day in court for months.
47 men have now been convicted of rape, two with attempted rape and two with sexual assault.
Court finds all 51 of the accused guilty
The French courts have found 47 men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault.
The verdicts on France’s worst ever mass rape case were read out this morning after a three-month long trial.
Local judge reads out guilty verdicts
Local judge in the southern French town of Avignon, Roger Arata, has been reading out guilty verdicts for dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot.
Mr Arata read out verdicts one after the other against the accused men.
“You are therefore declared guilty of aggravated rape on the person of Mme Gisèle Pelicot”, he told at least 20 of them.
Gisèle Pelicot: Inside the rape trial that shocked the world
Sitting across a courtroom from the husband who drugged and raped her for a decade, along with the complete strangers 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 four-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.
Each day, scores of women queued outside the courtroom in Avignon, France, to applaud Gisele as she entered. She told the trial she wants women who have been raped to know that “it’s not for us to have shame - it’s for them”.
The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin writes:
Gisèle Pelicot: Inside the rape trial that 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
Dominique Pelicot jailed for 20 years
Dominique Pelicot has been jailed for the maximum term of 20 years after being found guilty on all charges.
Pelicot wept as he was convicted and sentenced, according to reporters inside the courtroom.
Pictured: Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter arrives at the courthouse
