Drugged by her husband, raped by strangers “like a rag doll”

Victims report for the first time

A highly anticipated trial has begun in France. A man is said to have drugged his wife for years so that other men could rape her. Now the woman has spoken about it for the first time.

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In a sensational trial in France, a 72-year-old woman whose husband had drugged her with sleeping pills for years and offered her to strangers for rape gave evidence for the first time. “The police officers who searched Mr. P.’s computer saved my life,” Gisèle P. said on Thursday in court in Avignon.

Gisele P. is shocked

The woman had only learned about the crimes four years ago, when her husband was targeted for another offense and investigators found thousands of photos and videos of the rapes on his computer during a house search.

“My world has collapsed, everything I have built up in 50 years has collapsed,” said Gisèle P., describing her reaction on the day in November 2020 when investigators first showed her photos of the rape scenes. “I am lying motionless in bed and being raped. These are barbaric scenes,” she said. “For me, these are horror scenes.” The men treated her “like a rag doll.”

“Nobody should call that sex, those are scenes of rape,” she stressed. She was never interested in threesomes or partner swapping, said P. in response to questions from the defense the day before, which led to an interpretation of the incidents as risqué sex games: “I was never an accomplice,” stressed the 72-year-old. She also did not just pretend to be asleep. Her still-husband Dominique P., from whom she is currently divorcing, listened to her statement with his head bowed.

Quickly 4,000 photos and videos of the crimes

After investigators showed her photos of the crimes in November 2020, Gisèle P. only agreed in May of this year, on the advice of her lawyer, to watch videos of the crimes because of the new trial. “One is worse than the other,” she said on Thursday. She had lain on the marital bed as if dead, and her husband had offered her to his visitors “on the altar of vice.”

The investigators found almost 4,000 photos and videos of the crimes on hard drives, USB sticks and computers belonging to the main defendants. Based on the recordings, the officers identified a total of around 200 rapes committed by Gisèle P. between 2011 and 2020. Most of them were committed by her husband, and in 92 cases other men were the perpetrators, 50 of whom could be identified.

50 accused of rape

In addition to Dominique P., 50 other defendants will have to answer to the court and face prison sentences of up to 20 years. Gisèle P. addressed her rapist directly in the courtroom on Thursday: “Take responsibility for your actions at least once in your life,” she demanded.

The case came to light after Dominique P. came under the spotlight for filming women up their skirts in a shopping center. Investigators then came across the photos and videos during searches.

Gisèle P. explained in court that she had opposed a closed trial in order to give a face to the unknown victims of rapes committed under the influence of knockout drops and other narcotics: “I speak for all the women who are under the influence of drugs and don’t know it. I do this on behalf of all the women who may never know.” She herself had “lost ten years of my life that I will never get back” due to her husband’s crimes. (afp/edited by phs)

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