“It wasn’t intentional,” says Lionel R., one of the men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot.

The 44-year-old is one of 14 defendants who have admitted the facts. “I never intended to do it, but not having had Mrs. Pelicot’s consent, I can only note that I did it,” he said.

In the Mazan rape trial, Lionel R., 44, is the first accused to be heard before the Vaucluse criminal court for facts concerning Gisèle Pelicot, jThursday September 19, two days after the interrogation of Dominique Pelicot. He is one of the 14 accused, out of 51, who have admitted the facts. He steps forward to the bar and maintains his position. “I never intended to do it, but not having had Mrs. Pelicot’s consent, I can only note that I did it.”said the forty-year-old in the preamble.

The entire line of defense is contained in this statement. According to the counsel of the various defendants, their clients claim that they did not intend to rape the septuagenarian, who had been put to sleep beforehand by her husband using powerful anxiolytics. However, Lionel R. does not seem to be looking for mitigating circumstances. At the request of the president, he returns to his past as an alcoholic, and acknowledges that he made his ex-wife suffer a lot. He also admits to having unwittingly exposed his children to pornographic videos, which he watched while drunk. “I have no excuses,” he repeats several times.

The accused also mentioned a sexual assault he allegedly suffered. “at 12, 13 years old”specifies the assessor, who questions him on this subject. “I was playing pétanque. The club president took me home after training and masturbated me”relates Lionel R., specifying that he had “toned things down” when he told his parents about it at the time. “Out of shame.”

His questioning continues on the day of the events, December 2, 2018, which he details at the request of the court, always in this desire to assume, to deny nothing. He also apologizes to Gisèle Pelicot. “I can understand that you might not hear them, and that it’s too late, I never wanted to hurt you. But I did”he says, looking at the victim. “I never meant to hurt you”he repeats.

Yet, “I told him I drugged my wife at breakfast”assures Dominique Pelicot, questioned on the subject. With Temesta pills in his coffee. Lionel R. is one of the few accused to have acted during the day. Between 12:30 and 1:04 p.m., according to the time stamps of the videos found on the hard drive at the pensioner’s home. “He even asked me how it was going, he was careful not to say.”underlines Dominique Pelicot, very incisively.

“I don’t use any excuses, but at that moment I have a person in front of me [Dominique Pelicot] who becomes very directive, who doesn’t have the same look, I completely lose my footing, I do what he tells me to do”Lionel R. unrolls. During the rape, the victim moves several times. Dominique Pelicot signals to the forty-year-old to leave the room. “At that moment, I come to my senses a little. And I should have left long before, I should have reacted long before, but I can’t do it.”relates Lionel R.

Before the events, Dominique Pelicot had gone, accompanied by his wife, to the Leclerc supermarket where his co-accused worked. He had then discreetly approached Lionel R., leaving his wife aside, and asked him: “How do you find it?” However, when the employee discovered the affair in the newspapers, before his arrest, he said to himself: “This can’t be, this can’t be my story, I’m not part of this.”

“For you, can one commit rape without wanting to?”asks Stéphane Babonneau, one of the lawyers for Gisèle Pelicot and her family. “That day, yes, because when I got in my car, I never said to myself: ‘I’m going to rape this lady'”he assures.Today, you continue to say that it is an involuntary rape? continues the lawyer. Response from Lionel R.: “It wasn’t intentional, but I should have left long before, reacted long before.”

His lawyer, Louis-Alain Lemaire, questions him on this point. “You confirm that you did not intend to commit rape?” “No, of course.”the accused maintains. “The only criticism we can make of you is the reaction time before you become aware?”continues his advice. “Yes”, Lionel R. answers.

At the end of the hearing, Louis-Alain Lemaire deplores “the controversy” which was prompted by the statement of his colleague, Guillaume de Palma, who declared last week: “There is rape and rape.” “What he meant was that there was no criminal intent.”hammers the defense lawyer.