Woman 'raped by 72 men' says husband sacrificed her

A woman who is said to have been repeatedly drugged and raped by her now former husband and dozens of men he invited into their home yesterday said in court that her world collapsed after she was sacrificed on the altar of vice”.

- ALEXANDER BUTLER

Speaking in a calm and clear voice, Gisele Pelicot, 72, detailed to the court in the southern French city of Avignon the horror of discovering that Dominique Pelicot, 71, systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men while she was unconcious – storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.

“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice,” she testified. “They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag... I no longer have an identity. I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself. For me, everything collapses. These are scenes of barbarity, of rape.”

She told the court – having waived her right to anonymity – that she hopes her testimony might help spare other women from similar ordeals. She said she pushed for the trial in open court in solidarity with other women who go unrecognised as victims of sexual crimes.

“She knew nothing of what was inflicted on her. She had no memory of the rapes she suffered,” lawyer Antoine Camus told France Bleu radio.