The health condition of Dominique Pélicot, the man who drugged his wife for 10 years so that other men could rape her in Mazan, in southern France, and who has been on trial for days, continues to raise doubts as to when he will give his much-anticipated testimony, which has been postponed several times. The main defendant in the case, which also involves the trial of 50 other men who abused her, was supposed to appear on Tuesday, but was unable to do so due to an intestinal ailment.
He will also not testify on Wednesday: he showed up in court, but shortly after the session began, he left the courtroom. Pélicot spent a few minutes in the glass-enclosed dock where the main defendants are seated. He sat down with difficulty, and his defense requested permission from the presiding judge for him to leave. The request was granted.
A judicial expert has been appointed to examine him, and his interrogation is scheduled for Thursday, although it could be postponed again. His lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, had requested that his testimony be postponed until Friday. "I encountered a man full of pain," said the magistrate at the start of the trial, which is now in its eighth day.
She argues that the accused wishes to testify. He will do so tomorrow at noon "if his condition allows it," stated the presiding judge. However, he will not testify about what he did to his wife, but rather for raping the wife of another involved party, Jean Pierre M., who also drugged his wife so that Pélicot could abuse her. Part of Wednesday's interrogations focused on this accused individual.
The so-called "Pélicot case" is trying him and 50 other men for raping the victim and wife of the former, Gisèle Pélicot, while she was unconscious. Her husband administered sedatives in her water or food to make her fall asleep. That's when his guests arrived, whom he recruited online.
Pélicot has been absent from the proceedings since Monday when psychiatrists presented their profile (described as narcissistic, perverse, with a split personality, and zero empathy) and also yesterday, a crucial day when he was supposed to give his version of events in front of his wife and children.
This is the most significant sexual violence case in recent years in France, involving the highest number of defendants. The police have managed to locate 50 (out of the estimated 80 or more who are believed to have abused Gisèle Pélicot) thanks to the videos and photographs he recorded of the sexual acts.
The trial will last until December. A total of 35 out of the 51 accused admit to the charges (including Pélicot himself), but the rest claim they were unaware that it was rape, thinking it was a couple's game and that she was aware of it. Some argued that, with her husband present, they believed it was consensual.
The presiding judge asked one of the psychiatrists who was speaking about another defendant.
"Do you think that in this day and age, there are still men who believe that their wife's consent belongs to them, that they are the ones who decide whether there is consent or not?"
"There are. In the case of the accused, he does not verbalize it that way but acts as if it were so. That his wife's consent belongs to him is implicit."