Pelicot asks his family to accept his apology at the end of the trial in France for drugging and raping his wife

MADRID Dec. 16 () –

Dominique Pelicot, the man accused of having drugged his wife for at least ten years so that dozens of individuals could rape her in his own home, has asked his family during his last statement in court to accept his apology for what happened.

At the end of the trial being held in the town of Mazan, in the south of France, Pelicot said he “regretted what happened.” “I apologize. I want to tell my family that I love them,” he said before praising the “courage” of his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, who has been “able to withstand the insinuations of alleged complicity on her part.” He also thanked his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro.

The French Justice is scheduled to issue its verdict this Thursday morning against Pelicot and the other 50 defendants after the Prosecutor’s Office requested 20 years in prison for the plaintiff’s ex-husband, according to French media reports.

The attorney general, Laure Chabaud, requested the maximum sentence against Pelicot, who was arrested on November 4, for the “aggravated rapes” perpetrated against his ex-wife over a decade. “Twenty years is a lot, twenty years living within the four walls of a prison is a lot, but at the same time it is nothing, it is too little given the seriousness of the acts committed,” said Chabaud.

During her appearance in court, Gisèle Pelicot recounted how she learned from the Police about the chemical submission to which she was subjected, which gave rise to “scenes of barbarism” in which she was “a rag doll, a bag of garbage” at the mercy of fifty men.

Prosecutors have reported at least 92 rapes over ten years, although for the victim for years all suspicion was limited to temporary gaps in her memory. “Even our friends told us that we were the ideal couple,” said Pelicot during a long and calm presentation in which he placed September 12, 2020 as the first relevant date.