Six defendants aged 26 to 43 were questioned all week about the charges against them. All gave a similar version, ensuring that they were persuaded to go to the Pelicot couple for “a swingers threesome”.
A fourth week of hearing ends on Thursday, September 26, at the Mazan rape trial. Six accused have been heard since Monday. Like the vast majority of the 51 accused in this lengthy trial, Husamettin D., Mathieu D., Joan K., Andy R. and Fabien S. are being prosecuted for “aggravated rape”. Unique case in this case, Hugues M., also heard this week, appears for “attempted rape”. All face up to twenty years in prison.
At the bar, facing the Vaucluse criminal court, the six men delivered a similar version, ensuring that they were convinced to go to Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot to “a swinger threesome”in the words of Hugues M. An invitation which turned into torture for the victim, knocked out with anxiolytics by her husband. Asked about the notion of consent, everyone seemed to have vague knowledge of it or even be completely unaware of it.
“Personally, I wasn’t aware”swears Andy R., who was 31 years old when he went to Mazan on December 31, 2018. This agricultural worker in Carpentras had not “nothing else to do that evening”. His brothers didn’t invite him for New Year’s Eve. “I was the avoided one, not the invited one.”he quips before the Vaucluse criminal court, specifying that he has been an alcoholic since adolescence and a regular user of cocaine. Dominique Pelicot’s proposal, made a few hours before on the Coco.fr site, seemed attractive to him. He thinks it is a “couple delirium”. Once arrived there, the thirty-year-old could have turned back, discovering that the victim “snored”reminds him of Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer. Not enough to stop the man who was then married and father of two children. Because the accused had “permission” of the husband. Before resuming:
“Well, for me, she agreed.”
Andy R.before the Vaucluse criminal court
Mathieu D., who we see imposing numerous penetrations on the unconscious victim, on 16 videos found on Dominique Pelicot’s hard drive, does not say anything else. For this 53-year-old former baker, the simple fact that the retiree asked him for a photo of his face, to find out if his wife would like him, was enough to make him think that she knew. “I can’t deny that it’s rape.”he finally admitted. The fifty-year-old is one of the 14 accused who admit the facts.
For Joan K., Gisèle Pelicot’s opinion seems to have never been a subject. This soldier was 22 years old when he went to the Pelicot home for the first time in November 2019, before returning in July 2020. “Did you wonder if she agreed?”asks Roger Arata, the president of the Vaucluse criminal court. “I haven’t asked myself that question once.”he admits.
The president seeks to understand: “When you had relationships in a normal setting, with your partner, did you respect their wishes?” “Yes”assures the young accused, described by the expert psychiatrist as “an immature, anxious and depressive personality”. Joan K. comes from a precarious background, three of her brothers died very young. “Can a husband consent on behalf of his wife?” insists the president. “Logically no”says Joan K., without seeming certain.
“You know that consent can be taken back during the sexual act?”
Antoine Camus, lawyer for the civil partybefore the Vaucluse criminal court
“It’s possible, yes”he replies in a barely audible voice. Joan K., however, claims to have discovered the notion “in prison” with a psychologist.
His interrogation, very sluggish, contrasts with that of Husamettin D., 43 years old, more verbose. But no more enlightened when it comes to sex education. On the stand, he says that Dominique Pelicot called him before his arrival to assure him that his wife was up for a swingers evening. “You didn’t ask to speak to madam?” asks the president, falsely naive. “No, I didn’t think about it.”replies the forty-year-old. “Yes, it would have been better. But for me, this call was confirmation that this couple was real”assures the accused.
Once there, Husamettin D. notices, however, that Gisèle Pelicot does not react. “It looks like your wife is dead!” he says to Dominique Pelicot. “You make films”replies the other, before penetrating her in turn. Of the 68 images – photos and videos – found by investigators, several show that the accused imposed fellatio on the inert victim.
“Who gives the agreement? Is it sir or madam?”
Roger Arata, president of the Vaucluse criminal courtat the Mazan rape trial
Under the fire of questions, the accused justifies himself: “I didn’t go far to school, ‘unbeknownst to him’ [du nom de la rubrique sur Coco.fr où Dominique Pelicot postait ses annonces]I didn’t know what that meant.” And to add, indignant: “They call me a rapist, but I’m not a rapist! It’s too heavy for me to bear.”
Hugues M. seems calmer. This 39-year-old follower of libertinism did not impose penetration on Gisèle Pelicot, having not had an erection on the night of the events, in October 2019. The investigators observed in the videos that he had everything even tried several times. “The atmosphere is usually warmer, more welcoming”explains the one who was in a relationship at the time of the facts. “So it’s the atmosphere that causes the lack of erection? Not the fact that this lady was sleeping with her mouth open?” wonders an assessor.
Looking back on his previous relationships, Hugues M. says that he happened to enter his companions by surprise, in their sleep, assuring that they had asked him to do so. “The scenario you describe there is a surprise rape”underlines Antoine Camus, lawyer for the civil party. His ex-partner, Emilie O., testified at the bar: this thirty-year-old notably remembered a night in 2019 when she woke up in precisely this situation. Hugues M. pretended not to have noticed it, saying that he was dreaming.
Summoned by the investigators, who told her the facts of which her ex-companion was accused, the young woman remembered that she had been “feeling dizzy” between September 2019 and March 2020. She filed a complaint. The analyzes carried out for the investigation detected nothing and his complaint was closed without further action, “lack of material evidence”. In tears in front of the court, she nevertheless declared that she lived with the doubt of having herself been a victim of the chemical submission process used by Dominique Pelicot.