Gisele Pelicot arrives with her lawyer Stephane Babonneau (R) at the courthouse in Avignon on Decemb (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
A depraved husband has been found guilty of drugging and raping his wife in a campaign of abuse that spanned more than a decade.
72, will be sentenced imminently, with prosecutors seeking a 20 year sentence.
In a case that has shocked the world the man often referred to as “” was also found guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused and taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine.
His wife, , 72, who unknowingly suffered years of abuse at the hands of her husband and others, has become a heroine across the globe for her steely determination in standing up to her abusers and shining a light on misogyny and sexual abuse.
Mr Pelicot was on trial with 50 men who the prosecution alleged had raped Mrs Pelicot at the behest of her husband.
Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity (Image: Getty)
Mrs Pelicot’s daughter Caroline Pelicot believes that she was also a victim (Image: Getty)
Hundreds of protesters had gathered outside of the Avignon courtroom in advance of the verdict, with many holding banners with slogans such as “Shame has changed sides. Has justice?” And “Thank you, Gisèle.”
Since the start of the trial on 2 September, , raping her, and inviting dozens of men to abuse her for over a decade.
Despite Mr Pelicot’s guilty plea, French law still mandates a trial to establish the truth behind an offence, unlike in the UK.
The case came to light when Pelicot was arrested in 2020 when he was caught by a security guard filming up the skirts of women with his smartphone in a supermarket in Carpentras, a town near Mazan.
Following his arrest, police seized his phone and laptop where they discovered videos recorded by Mr Pelicot of him and others raping his drugged wife.
Protesters gathered outside the courtroom in the hours before the sentencing (Image: Getty)
The accused were booed and jeered as they entered the courtroom (Image: Getty)
The case sparked revulsion in France and beyond and led to soul-searching questions on the issue of consent, misogyny and the handling of rape cases.
Mrs Pelicot took the unusual but widely acclaimed decision to waive her right to anonymity and said: “I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too.”
has been present throughout the trial and believes that she could have been a victim of her father too after photos of her were found on his electronic devices of her in underwear that she did not recognise.
She has called on her father to tell “the truth” but Mr Pelicot continues to insist that nothing “untoward” happened to her.