A French woman whose husband allegedly drugged her to the point of unconsciousness for a decade, then let scores of men rape her, showed up to the first day of his trial — “completely determined” to face her attackers.
The 72-year-old victim, identified by the Daily Mail only as Gisele P., waived her right to anonymity when she appeared in open court Monday alongside her three children to watch her husband, 71-year-old Dominique P., as he stands trial in the southern France city of Avignon.
The alleged mastermind behind the shocking rape ring plot, Dominique invited men through an online forum, then filmed them sexually assaulting his wife between 2011 and 2020, the outlet reported.
Police have identified 51 of the 72 men involved in the alleged ring, and believe they committed 92 rapes in total.
They are also being tried alongside the victim’s husband, who worked for a power utility company.
Although Gisele could have spared herself an open trial, she requested that all the hearings be in public to ensure “complete publicity until the end,” attorney Stephane Babonneau said.
Holding a trial behind closed doors would have been “what her attackers would have wanted,” according to Antoine Camus, Gisele’s other attorney.
“She is completely determined to face them and her husband with whom she lived for 50 years but whom she knew nothing about, as she discovered at 68,” the lawyer said, according to CBS News.
Still, the trial will be a “horrible ordeal” for her either way.
“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,” Camus said, before adding that his client did not discover the abuse until 2020.
The case — which has horrified the entire country — began when a security guard caught Dominique filming up women’s skirts in a shopping center back in September 2020, CBS said.
Cops started an investigation and found thousands of photos and videos of Gisele while she was unconscious. Many images show the dozens of rapes she endured while at the couple’s home in Mazan, a small village in Provence, the network reported.
Investigators also found chats on the website he used to recruit the strangers, and Dominque admitted giving his wife powerful tranquilizers before the rapes occurred.
Dominque also followed strict protocols so his wife wouldn’t wake up, CBS said.
The alleged rapists — who are between the ages of 21 and 68 and include a forklift driver, a firefighter and a journalist — weren’t allowed to wear aftershave or smoke cigarettes beforehand, had to wash their hands and were forced to undress in the kitchen so they wouldn’t mistakenly leave any clothes behind.
Authorities say the husband both filmed the rapes and took part in them — encouraging the men to use degrading language on his wife, CBS said.
Many of the men told cops they were simply helping a libertine couple, who met in 1971 and have three children.
But Dominique told police the men knew his wife had been drugged without her knowing it.
Meanwhile, Dominque’s lawyer said he’s ready to face his family and his wife.
“He is ashamed of what he did, it is unforgivable,” attorney Beatrice Zavarro told reporters. “My client’s line of conduct is that he recognizes what he did, and there has not been an ounce of protest since the beginning.”
He’s also been charged with a 1991 rape and murder, which he has denied, as well as a 1999 attempted rape, to which he admitted.
The current trial is set to run until December.
