'He disgusts me...I feel dirty, soiled and betrayed but I must visit him in prison'

Rape ordeal survivor wants to ask her depraved ex-husband, 'Did you pity me?'

- By Hannah Britt

BRAVE rape ordeal survivor Gisele Pelicot says she wants to look her depraved ex-husband in the eye and ask him: Did you never feel sorry for me? The 73-year-old has not been alone with Dominique since she walked into a police station with him five years ago and his twisted web of deception began to unravel.

Now he is serving 20 years for repeatedly drugging and raping her over nine years, and inviting strangers into their home to abuse her. Gisele was hailed as “the world’s bravest woman” for speaking out during his trial and waiving her right to anonymity.

But her bravery did not end when Dominique was sentenced she now plans to face her tormentor in jail.

She says: “He disgusts me, I feel dirty, soiled and betrayed.

“I’ll have to go and see him in prison, even though so many people have warned me not to.

“I need to. I haven’t been alone with him since we walked into the police station together five years ago.”

And she still has questions she would like to ask the monster who was her partner for nearly 50 years.

She says: “When you looked at me in the morning, was there not a single moment when you felt pity for me?

“Did you never think: ‘I must stop’?

“I will never forgive you for dragging our children and grandchildren into this suffering.

“I’ll ask him all these questions. I need answers; he owes me that much.

“I will talk to the man I used to think I was married to. If he is still there, he will answer me. What does he have to lose, given that he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison?”

She says she also plans to ask him directly whether he ever abused their daughter, Caroline.

The couple met at 19 and married in 1973 - Gisele was a secretary, Dominique an electrician. They have three children, David, Caroline and Florian, and seven grandchildren.