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A man identified only as Lionel R. appeared in court in Avignon, France on
Thursday, Sept. 19, and claimed Dominique Pelicot told him that his wife
Gis�le liked having sex with other men while sedated, according to the
U.K. paper The Times

Dominique, 71, has been accused of drugging his wife, 72, and inviting
dozens of men to rape her over the course of nearly a decade
"I never imagined that she might not be part of this game," Lionel told
the court, per the outlet

One of the dozens of men accused of raping a woman who was drugged by her
husband has told a court he thought he was involved in a �game.�

A man identified only as Lionel R., a grocery store worker and father of
three, was the first of the accused to testify in the mass rape trial and
admitted to a court in Avignon, France, that he had raped Gis�le Pelicot
in 2018, but said he had not intended to, according to French outlet
France 24 and U.K. newspapers The Times and The Guardian.

Dominique Pelicot confessed to his crimes earlier this week after being
accused of drugging his wife Gis�le, 72, over the course of nearly a
decade and inviting dozens of men to rape her. Authorities have alleged
Gis�le was raped by 83 different men and was assaulted at least 92 times,
The Times previously reported.

Appearing in court on Thursday, Sept. 19, Lionel, 44, claimed Dominique,
71, told him that his wife liked having sex with other men while sedated,
according to the U.K. paper.

He told the court of Dominique, per France 24, �He tells me that he's in a
relationship, he makes me a rather unusual proposal to have sex with his
wife, he tells me that she'll be asleep, talks to me about sleeping pills,
tells me that she takes them or that he gives them to her, it's not clear.
I'm not asking too many questions, I was convinced it was a game at the
time.�

�There was talk of medical drugs. Sometimes of her taking them and
sometimes of him administering them to her,� Lionel added, according to
The Times and The Guardian. �I never imagined that she might not be part
of this game � My greatest error was not to ensure that she was conscious
and consenting.�

Per The Times, Lionel told the court he was invited to the couple�s home
in Mazan, near Avignon, and had sex with Dominque�s wife for 30 minutes
upon his instructions. But he claimed when Gis�le began to move, Dominique
�told me to leave the room, and that�s when I realized that something was
wrong,� Lionel said.

�Since I never obtained Mrs. Pelicot�s consent, I have no choice but to
accept the facts,� he continued, per the outlet. �When I got in my car
that day, I didn�t say to myself, �I�m going to rape this woman.� �

Offering an apology to Gis�le, Lionel added, �I am sorry, I can only
imagine the nightmare you�ve lived through � and I am part of this
nightmare.�

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On Tuesday, Sept. 17, Dominique appeared in court and said in his first
testimony: "I am a rapist like the others in this room," per the BBC,
France 24 and French outlet Le Parisien.

As reported by the BBC on Sept. 17, 15 of the 50 defendants at the trial
have admitted to rape, while most have just claimed they'd participated in
sexual acts.

"They all knew, they cannot say the contrary," Dominique told the court,
per the outlet.

"They all knew her condition before they came, they knew everything, they
can't say otherwise," Dominique added, according to Le Parisien.

"Even if it's paradoxical, I never considered my wife as an object,
unfortunately, the videos show the opposite," he said, per the outlet,
adding that he regrets what he did.

The alleged acts are reported to have taken place between 2011 and 2020.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Gis�le was unaware of the abuse before
police discovered thousands of photos and recordings on her husband�s
computer in 2020. As reported by The Times, the discovery came amid
accusations that Dominique had filmed up three women's skirts in a grocery
store.

https://people.com/man-accused-of-raping-woman-drugged-by-husband-says-he-
thought-it-was-a-game-8715770