The Avignon criminal court, which judges the rape of Gisèle Pelicot for years by her husband and 50 other menbegan this Thursday to listen to the rest of the people accused of raping her at her home while she was under the influence of drugs. Six of the 51 men accused of having participated in the multiple rapes testified and all, in addition to naming Dominique Pelicot, gave delusional explanations.
On one side, there is Simone Makenese, 43 years oldand neighbor of Pélicots. In an unrealistic statement, he denies having raped Gisèle, but he admits the penetration. He is the only one the victim saw before raping her because they were neighbors and Dominique had invited him to her home a few days before. “Either I was sleeping or pretending to be asleep“, something that seemed strange to him but he raped her anyway.
On the other, there is Thierry Postat, 61, who has a criminal record after being accused of possession of child pornography. He claims that when he went to the Pélictot family, he found Gisèle “weakened” and that he did not rape her because he thought she was going to have a threesome.
Jean Tirano, 52, raped Gisèle in 2018, but he denies it in court. In addition, he accuses Dominique of having drugged him. “Mr. Pélicot drugged me, he offered me a drink”, declared.
The fourth accused is much younger but with a dark past. Adrien Logeron, 34, has been in prison since 2020, sentenced to 14 years in prison for raping, harassing and mistreating three ex-partners. At trial, he admitted that he “He hates women.”
Jérôme Vilela, for his part, raped Gisèle six times. When asked why there was not a seventh time, he maintains that “things were going from bad to worse in terms of Gisèle’s sedation.” Jérôme also accused Dominique Pelicot of broadcast on Skype a rape of his wife to another man, who is one of the accused.
Finally, the declaration of Redouan El Farihu, a 55-year-old nurse anesthetist, joins the others in its surrealism: he assures that “Gisèle’s tragedy is the tragedy of us alls”, in reference to the more than 50 rapists.
