‘Treated me like rag doll, garbage’: French woman testifies against husband who let 72 men rape her

Recounting the horror of how her husband treated her, a 72-year-old French woman whose husband admitted to drugging her and inviting around 72 men to rape her over a decade, told a French court that she was treated "like a rag doll" and was "sacrificed on the altar of vice."

Victim Gisele Pelicot told a court in the southern city of Avignon that her husband Dominique Pelicot, 71, allegedly lined up scores of men to rape her while she was unconscious.

Investigators said the heinous crimehappened close to 100 times for nearly a decade, and the victim’s husband filmed the alleged rapes. Investigators said they have recovered thousands of images as well as videos from his possession.

“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice... They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag... I no longer have an identity. I don't know if I will ever rebuild myself," The Independent quoted the victim’sstatement in the court.

“For me, everything collapses. These are scenes of barbarity, of rape,” the victim added.

The victim further told the court that she was raped at least six times by someone, who was known to have HIV.

“My life was in danger but not one second did anyone stop... I was tested for HIV as one man who came (to rape me) six times was seropositive,” Gisele told the French court, New York Post quoting the victim’s statement.

"The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot's computer," said Pelicot during her testimony. It is important to note that accused Dominique Pelicot was caught in November 2020 by a security guard while filming up the skirts of women at a supermarket near their home.

Recalling the moment in 2020 when the investigators first invited her to show the sexual abuse images and videos filmed by her husband, Gisele termed it as “an explosion, a tsunami” in the court.

“My world is falling apart. For me, everything is falling apart. Everything I have built up over 50 years... Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me,” she testified in court.

The report said while investigating the case, French police recovered a file labelled "abuses" on the USB drive connected to Dominique's computer. When the police opened the drive, they found nearly 20,000 images and films of the woman getting raped almost 100 times.

According to police, the accused Dominique Pelicot used to mix sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication into his wife's meal or wine and when she becomes unconscious he used to invite men to rape her.