'Policeman who arrested my husband saved my life'

Victim testifies against partner who invited men to rape her

- Peter Allen

A WOMAN allegedly drugged by her husband and raped by dozens of strangers he invited to their home believes the policeman who arrested him is the reason she is still alive.

Gisele Pelicot was speaking for the first time at the trial of Dominique Pelicot and 51 other men accused of violating her over almost a decade.

The Pelicots both 71 - faced each other in a packed courtroom in Avignon, France. Mrs Pelicot, who has waived her right to anonymity, first of all, thanked the lieutenant in the town of Carpentras who arrested her husband for secretly filming up women's skirts in a supermarket.

The frail mother of three said: "He saved my life and I probably wouldn't be here without him."

She recalled the moment he confessed to taking the seedy pictures after his arrest on September 12, 2020.