Man accused of drugging wife gave ‘sick list of rules’ to her 72 rapists

A man is on trial accused of repeatedly drugging and enlisting strangers to rape his wife allegedly also gave them a list of rules to follow.

71-year-old Dominique Pélicot is accused of slipping Lorazepam into his wife, Gisele Pélicot’s food to knock her out and inviting strangers he met online to assault her. Reportedly, police identified 72 men who committed at least 92 sexual assaults—the perpetrators are aged between 26 and 74.

‘Strict’ list of rules
According to the Sun, the husband had rules that the men needed to follow to make sure not to wake up Gisele or raise suspicion while they abused her.

The men were asked not to wear aftershaves or to have cigarette odours, and they were also asked to clip their nails, among other disturbing rules.

The alleged attackers were also instructed to park their cars away from the house and undress in the kitchen to avoid accidentally leaving clothes in the bedroom.

Reportedly, the husband also made the alleged attackers wash their cold hands in warm water to avoid waking Gisele during the attack.

How were the horrific crimes discovered?
The first sexual assault allegedly started back in 2011 and lasted for about ten years. The crimes came to light when police arrested the husband for filming under women’s skirts in 2020. During their investigation, the authorities found evidence of rape and made the wife aware of the abuse she had endured for a decade.

Besides Dominique, 51 men were identified, and most of them were charged with either aggravated or attempted rape.

According to the prosecutors, the husband also took part in the rapes and encouraged other men to use “degrading language”. He also filmed the heinous acts. Reportedly, no money exchanged hands.

The alleged rapists came from different age groups, professions and backgrounds – including a company boss, a journalist, a fire brigade officer and a forklift driver. While some of them are married, some are single or divorced. A few are also family men.

A voice of bravery:
The victim, 72-year-old Gisele Pélicot, waived her legal right to anonymity. Reportedly, she did this “to raise awareness as widely as possible”.

“She could have opted for a closed trial, but that’s what her attackers would have wanted. For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,” Gisele’s lawyer, Antoine Camus told the outlet. He reminded that she has “no recollection” of the “horrible ordeal” and only discovered it in 2020.

“In terms of her mood, there is already a sense of relief that the trial is public, and that she won’t be in court alone over four months with her attackers. So that provides some comfort. She’s also preparing herself, she knows her words will be highly scrutinised, and will lead to questioning by the defence. So today she’s getting ready, she wants to express herself, and she will take the time to do so when it is asked of her and we expect that to happen quite rapidly this week,” another lawyer of hers stated.

20 out of the 51 accused men, including Dominique Pélicot, are held in custody. The others are out on bail.