How Gisèle Pelicot shamed ‘Mr Everyman’ during the rape trial which shocked the world
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. She added: “I’m thinking about all the other families affected by this case and the unrecognised victims in these stories that are often in the shadows – you share my struggle.” During weeks of appalling testimony, the court heard how, in 2011, after 40 years of seemingly happy marriage, Dominique Pelicot – an electrician nearing retirement – decided to begin sedating and raping the mother of his three grown-up children. open image in gallery Gisèle Pelicot sits beside her daughter Caroline Darian and son Florian at the courthouse during the trial Not content with his own sordid attacks, he then invited others he met in a now-closed Coco online chatroom to join in the abuse over the next nine years, which he meticulously documented in a sick library of homemade videos. open image in gallery Ms Pelicot giving evidence in court about the rapes orchestrated by her husband In court, Caroline described her father as “one of the worst sexual predators of the last 20 years”. I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.” open image in gallery Ms Pelicot arrives at the Avignon courthouse, flanked by her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau During her now-ex husband’s testimony in the early stages of the trial, Gisèle wore a pair sunglasses.