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A French pensioner accused of drugging his wife and allowing dozens of strangers to rape her while she was unconscious has gone on trial
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A French pensioner accused of drugging his wife and allowing dozens of strangers to rape her while she was unconscious has gone on trial in a case that has horrified and captivated the nation.
Dominique P., a 71-year-old former employee of France's power utility company EDF, is charged with orchestrating a horrifying rape ring. Over the course of nine years, from 2011 to 2020, he allegedly invited men aged between 26 and 74 to his home in Mazan, near Avignon, where they assaulted his wife while he filmed the acts.
Police have identified 72 men involved in 92 rapes, with 51 of them currently standing trial alongside Dominique P. The victim, now 72, is expected to endure a harrowing experience as she faces the reality of the assaults for the first time in court, having had no memory of the abuse until it was discovered in 2020.
Her lawyer, Antoine Camus, described the trial as "a horrible ordeal" for her, explaining that although she could have opted for a closed-door trial, she chose not to, as that would be "what her attackers would have wanted." The victim will be supported by her three children as she attends the trial in Avignon.
The investigation began in September 2020 when Dominique P. was caught by a security guard secretly filming under the skirts of women in a shopping center. This discovery led to a search of his computer, where police found hundreds of images and videos of his wife, visibly unconscious and mostly in a fetal position, being raped by various men.
The abuse is alleged to have begun in 2011 when the couple lived near Paris, continuing after they moved to Mazan in 2013. Dominique P. admitted to giving his wife powerful tranquilizers, including Temesta, an anxiety-reducing drug, to incapacitate her.
Dominique P. is accused of orchestrating the sick rape ring, filming strangers he met online attacking his wife while she was drugged between 2011 and 2020
Prosecutors allege that Dominique P. not only facilitated the rapes but also participated in them, using degrading language to encourage the other men. Despite their claims that they were merely helping a libertine couple live out their fantasies, Dominique P. has stated that all the men knew his wife was drugged without her knowledge.
The trial has revealed that some of the accused rapists included a forklift driver, a fire brigade officer, a company boss, and a journalist. While some participated only once, others took part multiple times, with their participation varying from one to six instances.
Dominique P., who has admitted to being raped by a male nurse when he was nine years old, is also facing charges related to a 1991 murder and rape, which he denies, and an attempted rape in 1999, to which he confessed after DNA testing. Despite the severity of his actions, experts have concluded that he does not appear to be mentally ill but exhibited a need to feel "all-powerful" over the female body.
The trial, which began today, is expected to last until December 20, leaving a nation grappling with the disturbing details of this case.
Source: Daily Mail
