'This is not just my battle': Pelicot testifies in rape trial

Gisele Pelicot, the French grandmother who has been hailed as a hero for insisting the trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men accused of raping her be held in public, has taken to the stand and described herself as a “woman who is totally destroyed” but that she has a “determination to change society”.

- TOM WATLING

Dominique Pelicot has admitted the charges against him – of sedating and raping his then wife Ms Pelicot, and inviting other men over to rape her, across a nine-year period from 2011 to 2020. Fifty other men are also on trial, with the majority denying rape and arguing that they cannot be guilty because they did not realise she was unconscious and therefore did not “know” they were raping her.

After two months of the trial, 72-year-old Ms Pelicot has told the court that she wants women who have been raped to know that “it’s not for us to have shame – it’s for them”. “I am a woman who is totally destroyed,” she said, before adding: “I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer.”

“This is not just my battle, but that of all rape victims,” she said. Asked how she has kept going in the face of what the court has heard, she said: “It’s true that I hear lots of women, and men, who say you’re very brave. I say it’s not bravery, it’s will and determination to change society.” Mr Pelicot watched from the dock as his ex-wife recounted how “lucky” she felt during their marriage to have him by her side, only for him to allegedly “bring these strangers” into their bedroom without her knowing.