Frenchman Dominique Pelicot confessed in a court Tuesday to drugging his wife and orchestrating her rape by dozens of strangers over nearly a decade, pleading for his family's forgiveness and declaring, "I am a rapist."
Pelicot's hearing, the centrepiece of one of France's most spectacular criminal trials in recent history, had to be pushed back last week due to his bad health.
He faces multiple charges including rape, gang rape and privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images.
Pelicot appeared in court with a cane Tuesday morning and spoke to the judge through a microphone. His lawyer said he took heavy medication and was allowed to take breaks to lie down throughout the day.
"I am a rapist just like all the others in this room," he said, adding, "I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did. I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable."
The case has shocked the country and triggered nationwide protests in support of his wife Gisele and against male sexual violence.
Dominique Pelicot told the courtroom he had a difficult upbringing and had himself been a victim of rape. At times he cried, according to French media. Gisele Pelicot was in the courtroom during his appearance on the stand and was greeted with applause by spectators when she left during breaks.
She had insisted on a public trial to expose her husband and the other men accused of raping her, making her a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France.
"For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined was capable of these acts of rape," she said.
Gisele Pelicot began divorce proceedings after meeting with investigators over the case.
When asked by one of the lawyers if he thinks he could win back his former partner, Pelicot said: "It is important to have hope. Otherwise, it's over ... I was traumatized. It's in part thanks to her that I forgot these bad moments in my life." Prosecutors have said Dominique Pelicot, who was initially arrested after filming up a woman's skirt in a supermarket, offered sex with his wife on a website called Coco and filmed the abuse.
In addition to Dominique Pelicot, 50 other men, currently aged 26 to 73, are also on trial on rape charges in the southern city of Avignon. Dominique Pelicot has said a total of 72 men participated in the abuse of his then-wife.
While some of the defendants admitted guilt to the investigators, others have said they believed they were enacting a couple's fantasy and that Gisele Pelicot had in fact consented to sex.
"When they came, they already knew everything. They all knew how this went about before the meetings," said Pelicot.
"I want to prove that my wife was a victim and not an accomplice, to prove that this was completely without her knowledge."
Investigators found 300 photographs and a video of the acts and filed them in folders including one titled "Abuse," according to a court document. Gisele Pelicot told investigators that she had suffered from memory lapses and had consulted a gynecologist for unexplained pains.
The trial is set to last through December. If found guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in jail.
