THE twisted pensioner dubbed the ‘Beast of Avignon’ today admitted drugging his wife and recruiting men to rape her in a chilling confession in court.
After dodging giving evidence due to ill health, Dominique Pelicot, 71, finally took the stand at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in the southern French city.
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Speaking for the first time about his crimes, the sick grandfather said “I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom.”
Pelicot is on trial alongside 50 other men charged with “aggravated rape” of his wife Gisele.
Wearing a grey shirt, the French pensioner shuffled into court using a cane to support himself and owned up to his crimes.
He said: “Today, I maintain that, with the obligations we all have, I am a rapist, like everyone in this room. They cannot say otherwise.”
Speaking about his now-ex-wife- Pelicot said he “was very happy with her” and admitted she “did not deserve this.”
“We had three children, and grandchildren, whom I never touched,” he added.
He continued: “I am accused of many things. We are not born perverts, we become them.
“Even if it is paradoxical, I have never considered my wife as an object.”
In a dramatic twist, Gisele was given permission to react to her ex-husband’s words.
She said: “For me, it is difficult to hear it. For fifty years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined for a single second that he could do these acts.
“I had complete confidence in this man.”
In response Pélicot pleaded for sympathy, saying: “I am guilty of what I did.
“I subjected my wife, my children, my grandchildren to this. I regret what I did. I ask for forgiveness even if it is not forgivable.”
The French pensioner is facing a jail sentence of up to 20 years, along with all the other defendants.
Last week, psychologists described Pélicot as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who appeared like a normal husband during the day and then drugged his wife so strangers could rape her at night.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified aged between 26 and 73.
Last week, Pelicot’s legal team insisted he was not well enough to give evidence.
His horrific crimes came to light after he was caught filming up the skirts of several women in a supermarket in 2020.
Cops would later find disturbing footage on his devices in a hard drive, hidden under a printer at his home in Mazan, near Avignon, which contained a file labelled “abuses”.
It included the nicknames and phone numbers of alleged rapists, together with some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisele being raped between 2011 and 2020.
Pelicot’s own daughter, Caroline Darian, 46, described him in court as “one of the greatest sexual predators” of recent years.
She said he secretly photographed her in the nude, along with her two sisters-in-law.
In a separate case, Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999 after DNA testing proved a case against him.
The Avignon aggravated rape case is due to last until December 21.
Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
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