At the Mazan rape trial, a forensic expert recounts how she helped Gisèle Pélicot “put the puzzle together”

Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve met Gisèle Pélicot in December 2020. The latter had learned a few weeks earlier that her husband, Dominique Pélicot, had drugged her and handed her over to strangers who raped her while she was unconscious. “Despite the very anxiety-provoking situation, she expresses herself willingly with calm and sobriety”said the forensic expert on Thursday, September 5, on the fourth day of the Mazan rape trial at the Avignon court. She was the one who was entrusted by the investigating magistrates with the delicate mission of carrying out the victim’s gynecological examination.

After two years of investigation, the police estimated that she had suffered 92 rapes, committed by 83 attackers, 51 of whom were identified. The gynecological examination is necessary to assess the extent of the trauma caused to the body of this woman who was then 68 years old (71 today). The interview that accompanies this intrusive procedure for a victim of sexual violence lasts several hours, during which Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve also inquires about Gisèle Pélicot’s mental state.

Several defense lawyers rightly accuse her of having been biased and too empathetic. “Since when has a doctor not been interested in the psychology of patients? she retorts. We are not vaginas, test tubes, blood samples: we are a head and a body.”

“When you are not well in your head, the body is sick. And when your body is bad, the head is bad too.”

Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve, forensic expert

before the Avignon court

For an entire afternoon, the two women explored the gaps in Gisèle Pélicot’s memory, fragmented by years spent on Temesta, a powerful anxiolytic that her husband made her swallow without her knowing. “Throughout our interview, she clearly showed a desire to contribute to the search for the truth and gradually pieced together the puzzle.”explains the doctor. Together, they try to put the facts in order. “It seems that the sexual violence occurred approximately every three weeks.”relates the coroner.

“His absences would have started on November 27, 2010”she notes. Then in 2011, while she was still working, the episodes became more frequent. “The disturbances only happened on weekends. I didn’t understand why I was sleeping so much.”Gisèle Pélicot confided to the expert. In 2013, once settled in Mazan, the small village in Vaucluse where the couple moved to retire, the episodes became more and more frequent. “Mrs. Pélicot sometimes slept for two or three days in a row. She then had periods of insomnia because she could no longer sleep without her medication. She was frequently disoriented and had balance problems.”describes the expert.

“She gradually lost her independence and all self-confidence. Imagine: you don’t even remember brushing your teeth.”

Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve, forensic doctor

before the Avignon court

In her expert report, the doctor estimated that all these years of chemical submission had made her run “a vital risk, with endangerment of herself and others”especially when she was driving. Gisèle Pélicot was plunged into an immense form of anxiety for almost a decade. “When we meet, she mentions losing 16 kg”notes the expert in her report, which she presents in court.

Her children were thus convinced that their mother had Alzheimer’s disease. They even considered placing her in a specialized institute before the facts were revealed. But Gisèle Pelicot was not overcome by dementia. When the expert met her, she was now living far from her husband and confirmed that she no longer suffered from cognitive disorders. Her relief was such that it seemed “to screen” to the anxiety caused by the shock of the revelation of the horrors suffered.

“In Madame Pélicot, there is clearly a quite exceptional resilience, which allows her to stand up.”

Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve, forensic expert

before the Avignon court

The pensioner speaks quickly, does not cry and shows a form of anger that is out of step with her status as a victim. She then discusses the facts “with a certain dissociation”notes Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve, “a process of psychological defense that is often encountered in victims of attacks, who are able to recount horrors very calmly”.

During the gynecological examination, the coroner observed several symptomatic signs of forced sexual intercourse. She also noted symptoms of sexually transmitted infections. In total, four pathologies were detected, including a papillomavirus. “The smear taken afterwards will reveal the absence of cancerous lesions”specifies the doctor, who emphasizes that the victim has “miraculously” escaped hepatitis B or C, syphilis and HIV, to which she was exposed six times by one of the accused. She will be treated intramuscularly: Gisèle Pélicot now refuses to ingest any medication whatsoever.

At the end of his testimony, Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pélicot’s lawyer, asked the expert if it was possible that his client’s body could have suffered when she was unconscious.

“We can suffer. We just don’t remember it. But the body perceives it.”

Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve, forensic expert

before the Avignon court

The lawyer also asks whether the pensioner could have lied about all or part of her story during this meeting at the end of 2020. Anne Martinat Sainte-Beuve responds immediately: “I allow myself to state, and I am categorical, that I have never had any doubts about the credibility of Mrs. Pélicot’s statements. I am well-versed in this exercise. I have already seen simulators. Never, at any time, have I had any doubts.”