Dominique Pelicot, known as the Monster of Avignon, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping and organizing the mass rape of his wife. All 50 co-defendants also received guilty verdicts. The trial, France's most notorious sex crimes trial, involved thousands of images and videos of abuse.
Follow MailOnline's live blog as verdict is expected in Monster of Avignon trial Dominique Pelicot cried as he was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison for raping and organising the mass rape of his wife - with all of his 50 co-defendants also receiving guilty verdicts for their part in France 's most notorious sex crimes trial.
Speaking outside court after the sentences were handed down, Pelicot's lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said he was 'stunned' at the judges’ decision to hand him the maximum sentence, as well as the suggestion that he could be kept in longer if he was still considered a security threat. Guilty verdicts flooded in this morning, with the judge reading out each of the charges before delivering the sentences. All defendants were handed at least one conviction for horrific sexual crimes.
A man holds placards which read 'Stop violence against women' and 'Justice for Gisele Pelicot' as journalists queue to enter inside the courthouse before the verdict in the trial for Dominique PelicotDominque Pelicot is accused of drugging his ex wife Gisele and inviting dozens of men to rape her while he watched and filmed them over a decade long period of hell
The trial – which has gathered international attention – has gripped France and the world since its outset in September. Just moments earlier her alleged rapists had run the gauntlet to enter the courthouse with their faces covered. Mme Pelicot held her head high as she heard and watched films taken by her husband of 50 years in which she was abused some 200 times by strangers he had invited into their home.
By this assessment the worst offender, for whom prosecutors suggest an 18- year tariff, was a 63-year-old Romain Vandevelde. He was knowingly HIV-positive yet is accused of raping Mme Pelicot on six separate occasions without wearing protection. One defendant told police; 'rape is not possible if a woman's husband is present', another claimed a man; 'can do what he likes with his wife', while most said they believed they were taking part in a 'kinky sex game' in which Madame Pelicot was a willing party.
In an electrifying 90-minute testimony, she told the hushed Avignon court: 'I was sacrificed on the altar of vice.'I was a dead woman, and these men take advantage of me, they defile me, they treat me like a bin bag.'They treated me like a rag doll.
Florian Pelicot, the youngest of the Pelicots' three children, arrives at the courthouse in Avignon to hear the verdict in his father's trial There was veteran chief fireman Christian Lescole, 57, who protested in court at being locked up after spending 'a lifetime saving people'. Police also found naked pictures of children on his computer following his arrest.
Gisele Pelicot speaks during the trial of her husband with 50 co-accused at the courthouse in Avignon Retired electrician Dominique Pelicot met each of his accomplices on an internet site for voyeurs called 'a son insu' which translates as 'without her knowledge'. The abuse only stopped when Pelicot was arrested in October 2020 for taking pictures of women's underwear on his phone at his local supermarket – a tacky form of voyeurism known as 'upskirting'.
Read More 'How could you have betrayed me?' Wife dramatically confronts Monster of Avignon 'That day will be seared in my memory for ever,' Madame Pelicot told the court.'I remember asking for a glass of water, then a psychologist came into the room, they said my husband had been detained - and everything just collapsed for me.
Pelicot told investigators he carried out his warped fantasies because he was 'bored' and blamed his arrest for 'disrupting his happy life'. He also hinted that he continued to hold a grudge against his long-suffering wife for a brief affair she had over 30 years ago.
At different stages of the long trial Caroline Darian confronted her father about whether he had sexually abused her – as well as her mother – storming out of court several times in distress.
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