The trial of a French pensioner who allegedly drugged his wife and allowed dozens of strangers to rape her while unconscious started today.
In a case that has shocked the country, Dominique P is accused of orchestrating a sick rape ring, using an online forum to invite a horde of men aged between 26 and 74 to his home in Mazan near Avignon, before filming them assaulting his wife over nine years between 2011 and 2020.
Lawyer Antoine Camus said the trial will be "a horrible ordeal" for the victim.
Detectives reported a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom were identified and are being tried alongside the main suspect, a 71-year-old former employee at France's power utility company, EDF.
The incident took place in Mazan in southwestern France
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An initial investigation was launched against the defendant in September 2020 when he was caught by a security guard secretly filming under the skirts of three women in a shopping centre. Upon investigation, detectives said they found hundreds of pictures and videos of his wife on his 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 20 miles from Avignon in Provence.
Chats were then found on a website since shut down by police, in which he recruited strangers to come to their home and have intercourse with his wife. Dominique P then admitted to investigators that he gave his wife powerful tranquilisers, including Temesta, an anxiety-reducing drug.
The abuse dates back to 2011, when the couple was living near Paris, and continued after they moved to Mazan two years later. The husband participated in the rapes, filmed them and encouraged the other men using degrading language, according to prosecutors.
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The trial has begun in France
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Camus said: "'For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years" adding that his client had "no recollection" of the abuse which she only discovered in 2020.
The woman, now aged 72, could have opted for a trial behind closed doors, but 'that's what her attackers would have wanted', Camus said. She will be present at the trial in Avignon, supported by her three children.
The accused rapists included a forklift driver, a fire brigade officer, a company boss and a journalist. Some were single, others married or divorced, and some were family men. Most participated just once, but some took part up to six times.
According to the defence, these people thought they were helping a libertine couple live out its fantasies, but Dominique P told investigators that all were aware that his wife had been drugged without her knowledge.
Dominique P, who said he was raped by a male nurse when he was nine, is ready to face 'his family and his wife', his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said.
The defendant has also been charged with a 1991 murder and rape, which he denies, and an attempted rape in 1999, to which he admitted after DNA testing.
Experts said the man does not appear to be mentally ill, but reportedly concluded that he had a need to feel "all-powerful" over the female body in assessments included in court documents.
The shocking trial is due to last until December 20.