Cops: Wife Had No Idea She Was Repeatedly Raped by Men for Decade

More than four dozen men are currently on trial in Avignon, France, for a crime that has "unsettled" and "shocked" the nation. At the center of the case is 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot, accused of drugging and raping his spouse of a half-century, as well as inviting scores of others to also sexually abuse and assault her, nearly 100 times in total. More on the disturbing case:

• The crime: Pelicot allegedly would pulverize sleeping pills to make his wife fall asleep, then would assault her or bring others in to do the same. The New York Times notes that Pelicot is accused of filming the other men raping his wife "in abuse that lasted nearly a decade."
• The victim: Pelicot's wife, Gisele Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity at the trial's start, per the Mirror, is in her 70s and had been with her husband since they were 18. She's said she had no clue about the alleged crimes against her until police—who had gotten wind of tens of thousands of photos, videos, and Skype messages going back to 2011 in which Pelicot bragged about what he was doing—informed her. The woman, who'd lost hair and weight over the years and "started forgetting whole days," has since divorced Pelicot and changed her last name. She told the trial judge, per the Telegraph: "He disgusts me, I feel dirty, soiled, betrayed. It's a tsunami, I've been hit by a high-speed train."

• The other men: Per an investigating judge's report, Pelicot met most of the other men in a "notorious" chat room. The Times describes the rest of the accused as "a kaleidoscope of working-class and middle-class French society" ranging in age from their mid-20s to mid-70s and including truck drivers, soldiers, a prison guard, a local journalist, and an IT expert.
• Charges: Of 83 initial suspects, around 50 were eventually identified and charged with rape, assault, or attempted rape. Some have claimed they thought Pelicot's wife had given consent for the drugging and assaults as part of a sex fantasy, while others said they "did not believe it was rape, because her husband was there and they believed he could consent for both of them," the Times notes.
• Break in the case: In 2020, three women went to the cops to accuse Pelicot of trying to shoot upskirt footage. When police confiscated his electronic devices, they say they found all of the incriminating evidence.
• Pelicot's response: Pelicot, who's been charged with aggravated rape, drugging, and a list of sexual abuse charges in the case, is "ashamed" of his "unforgivable" crimes, his lawyer says, per the Telegraph.

(More France stories.)