Sons of French woman drugged by her husband so she could be raped by dozens of men arrive to give evidence against their father as Monster of Avignon sex assault trial continues

Today, the trial begins for a French man accused of drugging his wife and inviting more than 80 strangers into their home to rape her. The victim’s sons will testify.

Courageous Gisele Pelicot has bravely given up her right to anonymity so the world can hear the depths of depravity to which her husband of 50 years has sunk to satisfy his sick sexual desires.

The case, which was heard in the town of Avignon in the French Provence, has shocked everyone who heard how former electrical engineer Dominique Pelicot abused his wife for more than a decade.

Mrs Pelicot, 72, last week faced the 51 men – including her husband – accused of raping her, all of whom were held in custody in the Vaucluse court every day as the proceedings continued.

Now David and Florian Pelicot both tell how their father Dominique’s terrible betrayal destroyed a once happy and close-knit family.

Courageous Gisele Pelicot has bravely given up her right to anonymity so the world can hear the depths of depravity to which her husband of 50 years has sunk to satisfy his twisted sexual desires.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, arrives at the court in Avignon, France

The Pelicots’ daughter, Caroline, gave a moving testimony last week

Dominique Pelicot is accused of recruiting men online to repeatedly attack his wife over a 10-year period

In three hours of testimony last week, the grandmother of seven described the moment she heard from police officers how she was sedated unconscious and then raped by strangers as she lay motionless on the marital bed while her husband watched and recorded the abuse on camera for his own amusement.

She told the court: ‘I was subjected to the altar of vice. It’s a dead woman on a bed. This is not a bedroom, it’s an operating theatre. They treat me like a bin bag, a rag doll. These are not sex scenes, these are rape scenes, it’s unbearable.’

In her testimony last week, Caroline Peyronnet, the couple’s only daughter, told the court how her world collapsed when her mother called her to tell her about his crimes.

Her suffering was further compounded when detectives discovered that Mr. Pelicot had also taken photographs of Caroline lying motionless on a bed in her mother’s underwear.

Mrs Peyronnet, 45, described her father as “one of the worst sexual predators of the last 20 years.”

During the trial, it became clear that Pelicot’s perversion only came to light after he was arrested in September 2020 for taking photos up women’s skirts in a supermarket near the couple’s home in the pretty village of Mazan, at the foot of Mont Ventoux.

During a search of his computer, police discovered 20,000 homemade videos and photos of men he met online raping his wife, dating from 2011 to the present.

Detectives tracked down 50 of the 84 men Pelicot had met on a now-defunct website and invited to his home to carry out the abuse.

Mrs Pelicot, 72, last week faced the 51 men – including her husband – accused of raping her

Mrs Pelicot, 72, relived the trauma she experienced when a police detective showed her explicit films of her being repeatedly raped by her husband Dominique and more than 80 strangers while she was unconscious

Madame Pelicot is determined to let the public know that she played no part in her husband’s twisted sexual fantasies as he lived out their picturesque chalet home in the Provencal village of Mazan (pictured)

They discovered that Pelicot routinely laced his wife’s food and drink with strong sedatives so she would be unconscious when her abusers arrived at the family’s home after dark.

Pelicot urged the men to sneak into the modest chalet and undress in the kitchen so as not to leave any traces.

He then turned on the camera and filmed each man brutally abusing his wife, then meticulously archived and catalogued the moves under various chilling titles.

The men, all from Provence in the south of France, are aged between 26 and 73. They include a firefighter, a nurse, a civil servant, a plumber, a soldier and a journalist.

Detectives tracked down 50 of these men and, together with Pelicot, charged them all with rape.

About 16 suspects, including Pelicot, have confessed to the offence.

But 35 of them claim innocence. One man told police he was convinced Madame Pelicot had given permission because her husband was present.

Pelicot faces up to 20 years in prison. The other men will receive shorter sentences if found guilty.

The trial is expected to last until December.