A French retiree was on trial Monday for allowing dozens of strangers to rape his wife after he drugged her, in a case that has shocked the country.
Fifty men recruited online are also on trial in the southern city of Avignon, alongside the main suspect, a 71-year-old former employee of France’s state-owned power utility business EDF.
Police recorded 92 rapes perpetrated by 72 males, 51 of whom were recognized. The males, ages 26 to 74, are accused of raping the 72-year-old woman, who, according to her lawyers, was so severely drugged that she was unaware of the assault that occurred over a decade. Presiding judge Roger Arata announced that all sessions will be public, allowing the woman’s demand for “complete publicity until the end” of the court case, according to one of her lawyers, Stephane Babonneau. However, another of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, has stated that the trial will be “a horrible ordeal” for her.
“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,” he told AFP, adding that his client had “no recollection” of the abuse, which she discovered in 2020. Camus stated that the mother, who was accompanied by her three children when she appeared in court, did not want a trial to take place behind closed doors since “that’s what her attackers would have wanted.”
A few returned six times.
When Dominique P., the defendant, was discovered by a security guard surreptitiously recording three women’s skirts at a shopping center in September 2020, police launched an investigation into the matter. On his computer, hundreds of images and videos of his wife—mostly in the fetal position and clearly unconscious—were discovered, according to the police. The pictures are said to depict several rapes that took place at the couple’s house in Mazan, a 6,000-person town located 33 kilometers (21 miles) from Avignon in Provence.
Investigators also discovered talks on a website called coco.fr, which the police have since taken down, where he invited visitors to his house so he could have sex with his wife. Dominique P. acknowledged to investigators that he had given his wife strong tranquilizers, including the anxiety-lowering medication Temesta.When the couple relocated to Mazan two years later, the abuse persisted, having begun in 2011 when they were residing close to Paris.
Prosecutors claim that the spouse participated in the rapes, recorded them, and used derogatory language to urge the other men.
There was no exchange of money.
A journalist, a fire brigade official, a firm leader, and a forklift driver are among the suspected rapists.
Others were family guys, others were single, and some were married or divorced. While most only took part once, some did so up to six times. Although several have claimed they were only assisting a libertine couple in fulfilling their dreams, Dominique P. informed investigators that everyone knew his wife had been drugged without her permission.
Her condition “was closer to a coma than to sleep,” according to one expert.
Only three guys fled the house immediately after they arrived, according to her husband’s testimony to the prosecution, while the other men continued to have sex with his wife.
According to Beatrice Zavarro, Dominique P.’s attorney, he is prepared to confront “his family and his wife” after claiming that a male nurse sexually assaulted him when he was nine years old. This might not be his final trial. In addition, he is accused of a 1991 murder and rape, both of which he denies, and a 1999 attempted rape, which he acknowledged following DNA testing. The guy does not seem to be mentally sick, according to experts, but according to papers seen by AFP, he felt the urge to be “all-powerful” over the feminine body.
The trial will continue through December 20.
