[Ammi]

Originally Posted by ChristmasNeeve

It's horrific that there just seems to be endless men willing to do this to someone. I know their profession's means nothing really, you'll find bad people everywhere but the Firefighter and nurse stood out a bit, people who's job it is to rescue and medically treat people

…it went very quickly from being one of the most bizarre stories to one of the most repugnant and abhorrent ones…and one of the men who raped Giselle saying…’so long as the husband was present, there was no rape…’…and that’s one of the things that makes her so brave in coming forward…that ‘male ownership’ of her being her husband’s property and him being the person who would determine and identify rape …

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Pigeon Lady

…it went very quickly from being one of the most bizarre stories to one of the most repugnant and abhorrent ones…and one of the men who raped Giselle saying…’so long as the husband was present, there was no rape…’…and that’s one of the things that makes her so brave in coming forward…that ‘male ownership’ of her being her husband’s property and him being the person who would determine and identify rape …

Yes, the dehumisation of women is so strong in this case, he just came right out and said it, I hope that one got more time added on

[Livia]

I want to see some of the guilty man splattered across the front pages.

[Zizu]

Originally Posted by Livia

I want to see some of the guilty man splattered across the front pages.

Yep

Hung, drawn and quartered ..

His behaviour is /was unthinkable .. even in today’s crazy world

[arista]

Originally Posted by Pigeon Lady

…it’s endless, it seriously reads like a horror story because it is a horror story…sadly a true one ….and as Matt said earlier…the youngest offender took part in a raping of Giselle on the day that his wife gave birth to their child…

Yes France has some evil locals
taking their turn to Rape her.

[Benjamin]

Gisèle Pelicot rape case: 17 men appeal against convictions

Dominique Pelicot, the 72-year-old man who drugged and raped his wife Gisèle and recruited dozens of men to rape her over a decade, will not appeal against his 20-year jail sentence, his lawyer Béatrice Zavarro said.

However, 17 of the 49 men who were convicted of raping or sexually assaulting Ms Pelicot at Dominique's behest have said they will appeal.

More could follow before the window to lodge appeals closes at midnight on 30 December.

Ms Zavarro told French media that Dominique Pelicot - who admitted his guilt - had decided not to appeal as he did not want to inflict a "new ordeal" on Ms Pelicot, who attended court for the vast majority of the 15-week-long trial.

"He felt that this decision was in line with the position he had always taken in the trial, namely that Ms Pelicot was not and never had been his adversary," Ms Zavarro said, adding that Dominique Pelicot wanted to be "done" with this case.

He will need to be present in court as a witness during the appeals trial.

Although Ms Pelicot is under no obligation to attend the proceedings, her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told French media that she would "face those who appealed. She's not scared of that, although she obviously would have rather it ended here."

Under French law, a new trial will have to be held over the next 12 months. However, unlike the first trial, it will be judged by three magistrates and a jury made up of nine members of the public.

While this will not necessarily result in harsher sentences, the trial's huge resonance and media coverage may mean the jury ends up being less lenient than the judges.

Although they will be closely vetted, "members of the jury are humans like you and I and may well have preconceptions," lawyer Hansu Yalaz told the BBC.

Among the men who have appealed are Charly Arbo, now 30, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail for raping Ms Pelicot on six separate occasions when he was in his early 20s.

Construction worker Simoné Mekenese, 43, and nurse Redouane El Farihi, 55, who were sentenced to nine and eight years respectively, have also appealed.

Many of the men argued they were "manipulated" by Pelicot into raping his wife, and that they were not aware she had not given her consent.

"Since the start, my client has said he... never meant to rape Gisele Pelicot," said Mekenese's lawyer Yannick Prat, adding that the nine-year jail sentence was "disproportionate".

He admitted the prospect of facing a popular jury could result in a heftier sentence, but said he would be "absolutely happy" to work with jurors.

"I will ask them to put themselves in the shoes of every party in this trial," he said.

Lawyer Louis-Alain Lemaire said one of his clients, who was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, was appealing the guilty verdict as "there was no criminal intention on his part".

But other defence lawyers feel that an appeal would be a risky gamble.

On the day the verdicts were handed down, lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC that while appeals are usually lodged in the hope of shaving off a few years from a jail sentence, all the men - including his client - had already been handed lighter sentences than had been asked by prosecutor.

Dominique Pelicot - who his daughter Caroline once called "one of the worst sexual predators of the last 20 years" - drugged, raped and incited others to rape his wife Gisèle for at least a decade.

He filmed many of the rapes, which allowed investigators to track down dozens of men. Fifty were eventually arrested, but about 20 individuals were never identified and are believed to be still at large.

The court found 47 of the men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.

Six men were allowed to walk free from court, in most cases because of the time they had already spent in pre-trial detention.

The proceedings - which lasted from September to December - garnered worldwide attention thanks to Gisèle Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and open the trial to the public and the media.

She said she did so in order to help other victims of rape: "I want them to say: if Madame Pelicot did it, I can too."

"Victims of rape are often ashamed, but it's not on us to have shame. It's on them," she said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg1plx12x2o

[Cherie]

Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter has revealed she barely speaks to her mother now, despite sharing the ordeal of a high-profile mass rape trial.

Caroline Darian claims that she was also a victim of her father Dominique Pelicot, who was convicted in France last year after orchestrating her mother’s rape. But Ms Darian says her allegations have led to a rift between mother and daughter, laid bare in a new interview.

“My mother let go of my hand in that courtroom,” Ms Darian told The Telegraph, as she discussed the fallout from a case that shocked the world.

“She abandoned me. For four years I accompanied my mum everywhere. I supported her without ever judging her. And it wasn’t always easy because she didn’t want to hear what I was telling her about Dominique. But in that courtroom, she was supposed to help me. And that, I can never forgive her for.”

“My mother let go of my hand in that courtroom,” Ms Darian told The Telegraph, as she discussed the fallout from a case that shocked the world.

“She abandoned me. For four years I accompanied my mum everywhere. I supported her without ever judging her. And it wasn’t always easy because she didn’t want to hear what I was telling her about Dominique. But in that courtroom, she was supposed to help me. And that, I can never forgive her for.”

Pelicot denied sexually assaulting or raping his daughter during the trial. Ms Pelicot declined to answer when she was asked in court if she supported her daughter’s claims.

Ms Darian has detailed her ordeal in a book, ‘I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again’, which recounts the discovery of her father’s abusive behaviour and how the family managed to carry on. She has also set up her own campaign #MendorsPas: Stop Chemical Submission: Don't Put Me Under to highlight the issue of drugged assaults.

Describing herself as the “invisible victim”, the author discussed her harrowing experience at the Hay Festival earlier this year.

“At the very beginning of the revelations, I discovered some pictures of me, taken from my beloved father, where I’m totally sedated,” she said. “He sedated me, like my mum. The main difference between my mum and me: my mum has all the evidence, all the proof of having been raped. But not me. I only have those pictures, almost naked, lying on the bed, with pants which are not mine.

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“But I don’t know what’s happened before or after.”

In the aftermath of the trial, having bravely waived her anonymity, Ms Pelicot emerged as a courageous symbol against rape culture.

“My mum was catapulted into the limelight; she became an icon,” she told The Telegraph. “Meanwhile, there we were, back down on earth, with all these unanswered questions – and we are damaged. My mother isn't an icon - not to me.”

Asked what she would say if she bumped into her today, Ms Darian replied: “’Hello mum’ and ‘goodbye mum’.”


The Telegraph

what a sad and unexpected outcome

[Ammi]

…it is very, very sad that Gisele Pelicot herself has gone through so much in such incredible and shocking life story and knows the monster of her husband and yet, she doesn’t believe that her daughter also was subjected to sexual abuses/assaults…and hasn’t ’held Caroline’s hand’ physically or emotionally…all very, very sad, the damage to that family in so many ways…

[Nicky91]

who?