“For three and a half years, I have been looking for answers to my questions. I went to the visiting room to dig, to try to understand… Why did he do that?” asks Samira T. on the stand, in tears, Monday September 30 afternoon, in front of the Vaucluse criminal court. This “he” designates his companion Jérôme V., who appears detained for a series of rapes against Gisèle Pelicot. In total, between March and June 2020, this 46-year-old man went to the Pelicot couple’s home in Mazan six times. A sordid record, which he shares with another accused.
When the police burst into their home in March 2021 to arrest him, the couple was then “in the middle of moving” : both had known each other since 2019 and had just bought a house. The investigators refused at the time to provide Samira with the reasons for her partner’s arrest, on the grounds, she said, that they were neither married nor in a civil partnership. She still learns that Jérôme V. has a link with Dominique Pelicot and that he is being prosecuted for “aggravated rape”. “At first, I told myself that he was part of a pimping network,” remembers this 44-year-old woman with long auburn hair.
She will learn more in detention, from the mouth of the main person concerned. “He didn’t hide anything from me, I know he went there six times, but I still don’t know the details of things”articulates Samira T., her voice broken by sobs. Does she know the raw reality of the facts, supported by dozens of photos and videos found on Dominique Pelicot’s hard drive? Not sure. “We had normal relations… For me, there was no point in looking elsewhere”said the forty-year-old, very moved, as if the acts of rape for which Jérôme V. is being prosecuted were a simple deception.
In any case, she seems ready to support him at all costs. “I’ve heard a lot that ‘everyman’ has been arrested in this case. For my partner, it’s different”she assures. “I work in health. Before, I was in education, and for me, [Jérôme V.] has autism spectrum disorder. I don’t understand why no one could have noticed it.” Samira T. blurts out in cold anger.
She thought a lot about the discomfort of this former volunteer firefighter, raised in Grande-Synthe (North), “in a climate of humiliation and denigration” from his parents, as the personality investigator pointed out earlier today. “I spoke about it to the police, to the investigator, to the police psychologist… While digging with him in the visiting room, I think of alexithymia,” advances the companion of the accused. This psychiatric disorder which is characterized by difficulty identifying one’s own emotions, according to the Vidal medical dictionary.
Samira T. also confided to the personality investigator that she had noticed in her partner “a very competitive spirit, sometimes unpleasant, egocentric and pretentious, who did not hesitate to flirt with other women, including in front of [elle]“. A less than complimentary portrait, shared by the ex-partners of Jérôme V., but which was not enough to put her off. “He is someone who does not have the social codes. In two years, I tried to redo his education, but it is complicated to change a person who is in a pattern. I am not giving up. ‘affair, I hope he will hear it’, she concludes, in a form of sacrificial promise to the person who faces twenty years of criminal imprisonment. Jérôme V. tries to hide the tears running down his cheeks.
At the same microphone, Corinne M., a 53-year-old housekeeper, also talks about the past of her ex-husband, Thierry P., prosecuted for acts of “aggravated rape” against Gisèle Pelicot, which dates back to one night in July 2020. “He did not have an easy childhood, because he saw his mother destroy herself with alcohol and had an absent father, who started his life again without his children”describes this woman dressed in a leather jacket.
They both met at “16-17 years old”and quickly had a daughter, born in 1994, and a son, in 1997, described the personality investigator. Thierry P., a mason, ensured a good standard of living for the couple, who quickly became the owner of a house. “The four of us were very, very happy,” remembers Corinne M. in a calm voice. “Until the tragedy, January 1, 2016. Everything changed”she whispers, struggling to continue. That night, their son died in a car accident. He was 18 years old.
From then on, Thierry P. changed completely and fell into immense anger, followed by deep depression. “He couldn’t eat anymore, couldn’t work, he was desperate”she describes. The man, who was then 45 years old, gradually turned to alcohol. The couple eventually divorced. In January 2021, Thierry P. attempted suicide. He was arrested a few weeks later. Today, the one who appears free has come out of depression and has almost stopped drinking. The couple is about to get back together.
“We see each other again, we meet again, we try”, explains Corinne M., who does not seem to understand the facts alleged against the father of her children. She is questioned about her ex-husband’s frequentation of the site Coco.fr, now closed, where he came into contact with Dominique Pelicot.
“In my opinion, he said to himself: ‘I’m going to go and see a little, for fun…’ I don’t know.”
Corinne M., about the Coco.fr websitefacing the Vaucluse criminal court
In passing, she turns to Gisèle Pelicot: “I have a thought for Madam, and for her daughter too. I don’t understand how someone could do this”declares the fifty-year-old, as if the facts did not concern the man sitting a few meters from her.
A form of denial may be motivated by the impossibility of associating the loved one with the abuse suffered by the septuagenarian. This reality, which is difficult to bear, is even completely obscured in the case of Alexandra R. As soon as she arrived in court, at the very end of the hearing, this 28-year-old beautician immediately affirmed that she had complete confidence in her companion. , Simone M., arrested in April 2021, shortly after the start of their relationship.
“He told me the facts and I got pregnant afterwards. I wanted this child despite that,” assures the one who became the mother of a little girl in June 2023. “He’s a very kind person, very sociable, very empathetic,” she proclaims in a loud voice, specifying that her partner is “very often cooking, cleaning” and even passes “the tractor at [son] father”. The court asks her what she knows precisely about the facts alleged against her fiancé.
“He explained to me that a lady was unfortunately raped, but that he was not part of [des coupables].”
Alexandra R.before the Vaucluse criminal court
And to continue: “He went to see her, he tried, because he was in disarray at the time and realized that it was not at all what he expected. He left straight away” . However, the 43-year-old man, originally from New Caledonia, is being prosecuted for “aggravated rape” of Gisèle Pelicot. By reviewing the videos concerning him, investigators noted that he had committed “vaginal and anal penetration, digital and with his penis, as well as an attempt at fellatio on the unconscious victim”.
Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, questions her on this point: “You say he came and left right away, what does that mean?”. “Simone is a trustworthy person… Do you think he touched Madame Pelicot, or even more? Where exactly are you getting at this?”retorts Alexandra R sharply. A feeling of unease runs through the room.
She finishes her testimony with the same aplomb, and, instead of leaving the courtroom or sitting at the back, like all the other witnesses since the start of this trial, the young woman takes her place on the bench. accused, next to his companion. Obviously determined not to face the materiality of the facts.