The only man to appeal his conviction in the rape case of Gisele Pellicot was found guilty on Thursday by a jury in Nîmes, France, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The verdict extended his prison term, as he was originally sentenced to 9 years before his appeal.
Gisele Pellicote’s ex-husband has admitted to drugging her and inviting dozens of men into his home to rape and abuse her over the course of nearly a decade.
Dominic Pellicott, 72, received the maximum sentence of 20 years. He and 49 others convicted in the case that shocked France and the wider world are not appealing.
But a 44-year-old man has maintained his innocence and accused Pellicott’s husband of “luring” him into the house and claimed he felt trapped.
What did Pellicote say during his testimony in court?
Gisele Pellicotte appeared in court on Wednesday and told the man who is appealing against his rape conviction that she “never” gave him her consent.
Pellicott, who was greeted with applause every time he arrived at the courtroom in the southern city this week, faced the appellant directly.
“At what moment did I give you my consent,” she asked. “Never.”
“Take responsibility for your actions and stop hiding behind your cowardice,” he said.
One of Pellicot’s lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France’s AFP news agency that his client would have preferred to focus on his future.
But she said she was “surprised by [defendant’s] Denial continued, despite physical evidence.”
Camus said, “He needs to see it through to the end.”
When Pellicott was asked whether she ever doubted her husband during the years of abuse, she also criticized the defendant’s attorney.
“Do you think that if I knew Dominic Pellicott was drugging me, I wouldn’t report him? Are you kidding?” he answered.
Appellant blamed husband, claiming he felt ‘trapped’
The 44-year-old man is trying to blame Pellicott’s husband for the situation, while there are more than 100 photographs and various video footage of the two men raping the victim, some of which was shown in court.
He said he felt “trapped” by the situation at the Pellicotes’ house.
He told the court, “I wanted to stop. At one point, I became very suspicious. I continued because he reassured me.” “He’s the one manipulating me, not me. He’s the one who lured me there.”
Meanwhile, Dominic Pellicott rejected this argument and said the defendant was a willing partner who knew his wife “would be sleeping.”
“I never put pressure on anyone,” he said.
Police investigator alleges he was ‘fully aware of the victim’s condition’
Police officer Jérémy Bos-Plattiere, who led the investigation of the case, known in France as the Mazan case, also attacked the defendant’s arguments.
“I have no doubt that he was fully aware of the victim’s condition,” she said.
He described a point in the video in which Gisele Pellicot can be seen moving slightly and the defendant immediately walked away, saying he was “worried that his victim might wake up” and had frozen in a “waiting position”.
Bos-Plattiere also refuted the defendant’s claim to have been at the Pellicote home for only half an hour, telling the court that the evidence showed he remained at the scene “for at least 3 hours and 24 minutes.”
Edited by: Wesley Rahn