A man in Avignon, France, is currently on trial for allegedly drugging and repeatedly raping his wife, as well as facilitating assaults by dozens of other men while she was unconscious, according to court records. The victim, Gisèle, 72, appeared in court on Monday for the trial’s opening, supported by her daughter and two sons, with her eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Over the next four months, she will face her alleged abusers, many of whom are strangers to her.
Prosecutors claim that the accused, Dominique, 71, drugged his wife with sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication before inviting men he met online to assault her, as reported by CNN. Dominique faces nine charges, including aggravated rape, drugging a victim to facilitate rape, and distributing images of the assaults. The prosecution built their case after discovering video evidence that Dominique had recorded many of the assaults.
Courtroom sketches from the trial, which has been ongoing since 2020, show Dominique entering the courtroom dressed in a black t-shirt and sitting opposite his wife. His lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, stated on Monday, “He acknowledges what he has done. There was no attempt to contest the charges during the investigation.”
The men accused of participating in the rapes sat with their heads lowered in the dock. According to court documents, police have identified at least 92 sexual assaults committed by 72 men, aged 26 to 74. Of these men, 50 have been identified and most face charges of aggravated or attempted rape and are standing trial alongside Dominique.
The abuse reportedly spanned nearly a decade, beginning in 2011. The crimes were uncovered in 2020 when Dominique was caught filming under women’s skirts at a shopping centre. The subsequent police investigation, which involved seizing his phone and computer, revealed evidence of the rapes, making Gisèle aware of the abuse she had unknowingly endured for years.
Court documents indicate that Dominique admitted to investigators that the men involved knew his wife had been drugged without her knowledge—though some defendants deny this. Christophe Huguenin-Virchaux, a lawyer representing one of the men, told CNN affiliate BFMTV on Tuesday that his client acknowledged sexual relations had occurred but believed they were part of a consensual “sexual game between a husband and wife” and was unaware that Gisèle was drugged.
Throughout the trial, Gisèle will be confronted with the harrowing details of the abuse she suffered. On Tuesday, she had to endure a reading of the disturbing events and listen to the defence arguments. “It was very difficult,” her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told CNN. “It was unbearable for her to hear people claim they thought she was pretending to sleep and believed it was consensual.”
Last Friday, before the trial began, another of her lawyers, Antoine Arebalo-Camus, told reporters, “She had no idea what had been done to her, so she has no memory of the rapes she suffered over 10 years.”
Despite the option to request a private trial, Gisèle chose to have the proceedings made public so that everyone could hear the justifications offered by the men involved. Her daughter revealed that Gisèle had sought medical help for memory loss and extreme fatigue, which were side effects of the drugs she was given. “She saw doctors, she saw neurologists,” her daughter told French media, criticising the medical profession for not identifying the issue earlier.
In response to her mother’s ordeal, Gisèle’s daughter launched an awareness campaign called “M’endors Pas” (“Don’t Put Me to Sleep”) to raise awareness about drug-facilitated sexual assault.
The trial, which started on September 2 in Avignon, is expected to conclude with a verdict on December 20.