“Voyeurism”, “propensity to consider the other as an object that can be manipulated”… At the trial of Dominique Pélicot, the psychological portrait of this septuagenarian, accused of having drugged, raped and had his wife raped for ten years by men recruited on the Internet, was drawn up on Monday in Avignon (south of France) by psychiatric experts.
“Voyeurism is part of his psychosexual dynamic,” psychologist Annabelle Montagne summed up at the hearing, describing the accused’s “egocentrism” and his “propensity to consider others as objects that can be manipulated.”
It was by knocking his wife out with anxiolytics, rendering her “totally inert, unresponsive”, that the accused was able to have her raped by dozens of men, from July 2011 to October 2020.
“The fact that the person is totally passive could refer to necrophilia fantasies,” continues M.me Montagne: the rape that the accused claims to have suffered, at the age of 9, by a nurse during a hospitalization, could have formed “a split in his psyche”.
“Necrophilia fantasies”
His grandchildren adored him: he helped them with their homework and took them to sports activities. With his neighbors, Dominique Pélicot regularly went on bike rides around Mont Ventoux, near their home in Mazan (southern France), where the couple had moved in March 2013.
“His retirement and the couple’s move may have weakened the defensive barriers in the psyche,” according to M.me Mountain.
Previously, another psychologist, Marianne Douteau, highlighted Dominique Pélicot’s “angry” character, “inspiring fear”, “lying and secrecy”. Traits similar to those of his father, whom he hated.
His parents ran a hotel and restaurant. He had worked as a worker in the nuclear sector before launching into real estate, with mixed success.
“Mr. Pélicot’s sexuality appears to be modeled on his personality,” according to Ms. Douteau: “it is described as ordinary in public, but within his relationship he has a tenacious sexuality, like the swinging that his wife refused and which he compensates for by using pornographic discussion sites.”
This “two-faceted” personality of “manipulative pervert” Dominique Pélicot, described as the “conductor of the rapes” by a co-accused, had already been outlined by a first expert on Friday, when he mentioned Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
A rapist by night but a caring grandfather by day: his wife even considered him a “great guy”, until she learned of the horror of the events in the fall of 2020.
51 accused in total
Dominique Pélicot, 71, is being tried with 50 co-defendants before the Vaucluse criminal court, in a trial expected to last four months.
The defense lawyers spoke first on Monday morning, asking the president of the court to “do everything to ensure the serenity of the debates.”
They announced that complaints would be filed after threats, sometimes physical, received by some of the accused and members of their family, even their children. Lists of the accused, as well as sometimes their photos, have been disseminated in recent days on social networks with threats, in defiance of the presumption of innocence.
A total of 32 accused appear free, 18 are detained and 51e is on the run. Most of them arrived on Monday, wearing surgical masks and lowering their heads to the many cameras of the world’s media.
The main accused was excused from the hearing due to intestinal pain. He appeared very weak when he entered his box, leaning on his cane and the window.
If the trial schedule is respected, he should deliver his first explanations on Tuesday afternoon.
Gisèle Pélicot, 71, the main victim in this case, gave a moving testimony on Thursday, without ever glancing at her ex-husband, from whom she has been officially divorced since August 22.
“In 50 years, I have never seen him say an inappropriate thing about a woman or say obscene things,” she assured, describing this “attractive young man, sailor sweater, long hair” with whom she had “fallen in love” in the summer of 1971, forming with him “a close-knit couple”, without “a power struggle”.
Starting Wednesday afternoon, the court is expected to begin questioning the other defendants, 50 men aged between 26 and 74. Like Mr. Pélicot, most of them face 20 years in prison for aggravated rape.