Frenchman faces trial for decade-long rape orchestrated against drugged wife, involving dozens

Decade-long abuse captured on film

A shocking trial has gripped France, where a pensioner faces charges for drugging his wife and allowing dozens of strangers to rape her. The case has horrified the nation, with harrowing details emerging in court that led to the victim's daughter leaving the room, overwhelmed by emotion.

The case against 71-year-old Dominique P. has shocked France after the disturbing allegations came to light by chance when he was caught filming up women's skirts in a local supermarket.

The trial, taking place in the southern city of Avignon and set to conclude in December, involves charges of rape and sexual abuse against him and 50 other men, aged 26 to 74, whom he allegedly recruited online to abuse his wife.

On Tuesday, when asked if he was guilty of the accusations, Dominique P. responded with a simple "yes." The ongoing trial will determine his sentencing, along with the verdicts for the other men involved in the abuse.

His wife, 72-year-old Gisele P., is attending the trial alongside their daughter and two sons. She requested the trial be open to the public.

Her lawyers assert that she was so heavily sedated during the period from 2011 to 2020 that she was unaware of the abuse.

Presiding judge Roger Arata, leading a panel of five judges, coldly read out the main findings of the investigation on the trial's second day.

'And I stopped calling you dad'

Their daughter, who uses the pen name Caroline Darian, left the room in tears less than 20 minutes after the start of the hearing.

Arata recounted how naked photomontages of her had been found on Dominique P.'s computer in a folder titled "Around my daughter, naked". Darian collapsed in tears.

Darian left the room trembling, escorted by her two brothers and her lawyer Antoine Camus, but reappeared some twenty minutes later.

For their children, "it's immensely painful, unbearable", the lawyer said afterwards.

"Even if they are not discovering anything new as they know the case, it was particularly gruelling this morning."

Gisele P., wearing a white blouse, remained calm and reserved throughout the proceedings.

At the other end of the courtroom, but directly opposite her, sat her husband, dressed in a grey T-shirt and appearing emotionless.

She has commenced divorce proceedings.

As their daughter Darian returned to the courtroom, she paused in front of the dock reserved for 18 of the accused who are in custody, including her father, but none looked her in the eye.

Some have already been sentenced for domestic violence or rape.

Darian in 2022 wrote a book "Et j'ai cesse de t'appeler papa" ("And I stopped calling you dad") about the effect of the discovery of the crimes on the family.

Camus said he hoped the trial would raise awareness about abuse using so-called date rape drugs within families.

According to France's drug security authority, 42 percent of credible reports of date rape drug use in 2021 occurred in the private sphere.

Just 19 percent of cases had been reported as happening in a party context.

Online forum

From time to time, Dominique P. glanced at some of the 32 other defendants attending the trial as free men in another part of the courtroom.

A 51th man is being judged in absentia.

Besides the husband, there are 72 suspects in the case but only 50 have been identified and tracked down.

Most of them face up to 20 years in jail for aggravated rape if convicted.

Several have been accused of abuse on six different occasions.

During searches investigators came across thousands of photos and videos showing Gisele P. being sexually abused by strangers recruited online on a forum called "Without her knowledge" on the controversial website coco.gg, shut down by the courts since last June.

Dominique P., who appeared on the site under a pseudonym, has claimed he only "occasionally" logged on.

But several discussions were found in which he sometimes used the term "rape" and told potential attackers that administering sleeping pills to his wife allowed him to abuse her by engaging practices she would normally refuse.

Police said they found hundreds of pictures and videos of his wife on Dominique P.'s computer, visibly unconscious and mostly in the foetal position.

The images are alleged to show dozens of rapes in the couple's home in Mazan, a village of 6,000 people around 33 kilometres (20 miles) from Avignon in the Provence region.

(Inputs From AFP)