Warning: This story contains distressing details from the start.

A French woman who was raped by unknown men over 10 years after being
drugged to sleep by her husband told a court of her horror at learning how
she had been abused.

Gis�le P�licot, who is 72, was giving evidence on day three of the trial
in Avignon, south-east France, of 51 men � including her husband of 50
years, Dominique. All are accused of rape.

Documents before court indicate that Dominique P�licot, 71, admitted to
police that he got satisfaction from watching other men have sex with his
unconscious wife.

Many defendants in the case contest the rape charge against them, claiming
that they thought they were taking part in a consensual sex game.

But Gis�le P�licot told the court she was "never complicit" in the sexual
acts and had never pretended to be asleep.

This is a case that has shocked France, all the more so because the trial
is being held in public.

Gis�le waived her right to anonymity to shift the "shame" back onto the
accused, her legal team has previously said.

Taking the stand on Thursday, she said she was speaking for "every woman
who's been drugged without knowing it... so that no woman has to suffer."

She recalled the moment in November 2020 when she was asked by police to
attend an interview alongside her husband.

He had recently been caught taking under-skirt photographs of women at a
supermarket, and Gis�le told the court she believed the meeting with
police was a formality related to that incident.

�The police officer asked me about my sex life,� she told the court. �I
told him I had never practised partner-swapping or threesomes. I said I
was a one-man woman. I couldn�t bear any man�s hands on me other than my
husband�s.

�But after an hour the officer said, �I am going to show you some things
which you will not find pleasant�. He opened a folder and he showed me a
photograph.

�I did not recognise either the man or the woman asleep on the bed. The
officer asked: �Madame, is this your bed and bedside table?�

�It was hard to recognise myself dressed up in a way that was unfamiliar.
Then he showed me a second photo and a third.

�I asked him to stop. It was unbearable. I was inert, in my bed, and a man
was raping me. My world fell apart.�

Gis�le said that up until then their marriage had been generally happy,
and she and her husband had overcome a number of financial and health-
related difficulties. She said she had forgiven the upskirting after he
promised her that it had been a one-off incident.

�All that we had built together had gone. Our three children, seven
grandchildren. We used to be an ideal couple.

�I just wanted to disappear. But I had to tell my children their father
was under arrest. I asked my son-in-law to stay next to my daughter when I
told her that her father had raped me, and had me raped by others.

�She let out a howl, whose sound is still etched on my mind.�

In the coming days, the court will hear more evidence from the
investigation, about how Dominique allegedly contacted men via sex-chat
websites and invited them to his suburban home in Mazan, a town north-east
of Avignon.

Police claim the men were given strict instructions. They had to park at
some distance from the house so as to not attract attention, and to wait
for up to an hour so that the sleeping drugs which he had given Gis�le
could take effect.

They further claim that, once in the home, the men were told to undress in
the kitchen, and then to warm their hands with hot water or on a radiator.
Tobacco and perfume were not allowed in case they awoke Gis�le. Condoms
were not required.

No money changed hands.

According to the investigation, Dominique watched and filmed the
proceedings, eventually creating a hard-drive file with some 4,000 photos
and videos on it. It was as a result of the upskirting episode that police
found the files on his computer.

Police say they have evidence of around 200 rapes carried out between 2011
and 2020, initially at their home outside Paris, but mainly in Mazan,
where they moved in 2013.

Investigators allege that just over half the rapes were carried out by her
husband. Most of the other men lived only a few kilometres away.

Asked Thursday by the judge if she knew any of the accused, Gis�le said
she recognised only one.

�He was our neighbour. He came over to check our bikes. I used to see him
at the bakery. He was always polite. I had no idea he was coming to rape
me.�

Gis�le was then reminded by the judge that in order to respect the
presumption of innocence, it had been agreed in court not to use the word
rape but �sex scene�.

She replied: �I just think they should recognise the facts. When I think
of what they have done I am overcome with disgust. They should at least
have the responsibility to recognise what they did.�

After the truth emerged, Gis�le found that she was carrying four sexually-
transmitted diseases.

�I have had no sympathy from any of the accused. One who was HIV-positive
came six times. Not once did my husband express any concern about my
health,� she said.

She is now in the process of divorcing him.

After speaking for two hours in front of Dominique and the other accused,
she said: �Inside me, it is a scene of devastation. The fa�ade may look
solid... but behind it...�

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9dwxexp77o