Avignon:

The wives and girlfriends of dozens of men on trial in France accused of raping another woman while she was drugged by her husband have reacted with anger and disbelief, although some say they will support the accused.

In a trial that shocked France, Dominique Pelicot, 71, admitted drugging his then-wife Gisele with sedatives so strangers could sexually abuse her in her own bed for close a decade to 2020.

Another 50 men, aged between 26 and 74, are also on trial in the southern city of Avignon, accused of responding to his invitation to rape her.

Some, including Pelicot, are in custody and one is being tried in absentia, but 32 of the defendants are present as free men.

Among the women who testified at the trial, Vanessa P. said she no longer had any respect for her ex-partner Quentin H., 34, who was a prison guard when he allegedly abused Gisele Pelicot.

“When you see what they’re accusing him of, you start to doubt everything,” the carer said, accusing him of being “manipulative”.

Emilie O., 33, similarly described her ex-partner Hugues M., a 39-year-old accused of “attempted rape” in the lawsuit.

“I thought I was living a peaceful and fulfilling life, but I was wrong,” she said, adding that she will always fear that she too was raped.

Emilie O. separated from her partner in 2020 when the police discovered years of abuse of Gisele Pelicot and discovered that Hugues M. had several affairs.

“He was always respectful”

Gisele Pelicot, now 71, has become a feminist icon at home and abroad since the trial began in September, refusing to be ashamed and calling for the trial to be open to the public.

Like her, Cilia M. was also drugged and raped.

Her husband Jean-Pierre M., 63, is the only defendant in the trial who is not accused of abusing Gisele Pelicot.

Instead, he and Dominique Pelicot were accused of repeatedly drugging and sexually assaulting Cilia M. between 2015 and 2018, using the same method.

“It was wonderful, but it destroyed us,” said the mother of her five children, one of whom is disabled.

Cilia M. told the court she would “never forgive” her husband, who claimed his own father sexually abused her as a child.

She has since separated from him, but has not pressed charges to “protect” her children.

Corinne M. had already separated from her husband, former builder Thierry P., 54, when the Pelicot case came to light, after the death of their son in a traffic accident caused him to become an alcoholic.

She was confused by his behavior.

When it came to sex, “he was always respectful. When it was no, it was no… I really don’t understand why he’s here today,” she told the trial.

Veronique Le Goaziou, a sociologist who specializes in the subject of sexual abuse, told AFP that the defendants’ partners are usually “stunned”.

They often struggled to imagine the alleged violence that was “beyond their understanding,” she said.

“In some cases … they just can’t or won’t believe.”

‘it’s not him’

Samira T. said she is still trying to understand why her partner Jerome V. raped Gisele Pelicot six times in her home in the southern city of Mazan in 2020.

But she would be by his side to “support” him.

“If we met, it’s not a coincidence,” she said. “I was given this mission.”

Jerome V., a 46-year-old former convenience store worker who claims he slept with 89 people, told the court he was unable to control his sexuality.

Samira T. said she sought to satisfy his high libido by complying with his requests for sex almost every day “at 10 o’clock at night” and agreeing to nude photos or nude walks.

“He had no reason to go looking elsewhere,” she said, crying.

Another woman, Hien B., accused herself.

During a time when she was caring for her sick mother, she had constantly pushed Jean-Luc L. away when she wanted sex.

“I think as a man he decided to go back somewhere else,” she said.

Among the accused’s partners in Avignon, Sonia R. has been dating Patrice N. for just over a year.

She said she wants to look forward to the future.

“I support him and trust him with all my heart,” she said.

Lucie B. was also with Gregory S., her partner of seven years. She is pregnant with her third child.

“I don’t see him as a rapist. He’s not,” she said.

After they met in 2017, she said, he told her about visiting the Pelicot house earlier that year.

“He told me it was the husband and his wife’s idea of ​​fun, that she was drunk,” she added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)