Getty ImagesGisele Perico waived her anonymity and insisted that the video taken by her ex-husband be released in court.
Warning: This story contains gory details from the beginning.
There was a sudden silence in the Avignon courtroom, and three large television screens set high on three walls flickered to life again. I could feel people getting ready.
It’s time to show more of Dominick Perico’s carefully curated home videos of his dark trial over unusual drug and rape charges.
The videos, which Perricot shot and labeled “abuse” and stored on his hard drive, document his assault on his ex-wife, Gisele, over a period of 10 years.
Fifty men are accused of raping her after she was drugged by her husband and left unconscious in their marital bed.
Gisele Pericot, now 72 years old, gave up her anonymity to reveal to the French public the details of what she suffered. Her lawyer fought to have the video of the crime shown in court.
The judge had previously said people with “sensitive temperaments” could be evicted, but one of Gisele Perico’s lawyers said many people had decided to “face the rape in the face”. Ta.
Many of the men her ex-husband scouted online claim they do not believe what they are doing is rape.
Dominic Perico sat behind a glass panel, slouched in a chair. His gray hair was neatly cut, and his left hand was raised to block his view of the screen.
Gisele Perico sat on the other side of the court, her head against the wall, her eyes occasionally closed. There was a blank, unreadable expression on her face.
Reuters
Dominic Pericot (centre) raised his hand in the dock to block his own image.
On the screen, in near silence, a short, pale man wearing only blue pants and black socks could be seen approaching the bed.
The camera swayed as it followed him. Behind the man, a nearly naked woman lay on her left side on a rumpled white sheet. And then, unedited, unblurred, the lovemaking began.
Later in the video, the woman’s snoring could be clearly heard.
In court, Dominic Perico appeared to have his hands over his ears. For years, he had been mixing anti-anxiety drugs in his wife’s food and drinks, causing her to lose consciousness and severely impacting her health.
This video and others played in court and made by Gisele Perico to members of the public watching from a nearby overflow room are at the center of the prosecution’s case.
Prosecutors have argued that all 50 men who accepted Perico’s online invitation to visit his parents’ home in the village of Mazan, near Avignon, must have known that his wife was unconscious.
So they must have realized that she was not just a partner who had agreed to some kind of sex game where she pretended to be asleep. Therefore, they must have intended to rape her.
But a series of defense attorneys and their clients are now seeking to challenge this.
Reuters
The Pericot incident sparked backlash and protests in France.
The man on screen in this particular video was a 43-year-old carpenter, named in court as Vincent C. Justin.
He now stood before the judges in a separate glass area at the back of the courtroom, his head bowed and his eyes averted from the screen.
“Are you aware of the aggravated rape you are accused of?” asked Chief Judge Roger Arata, an affable man with a large white mustache.
“No,” Vincent C. answered.
His rambling explanation was nothing more than a vague assumption that Dominic Perico had told him that his wife was a consenting party to a sex game and had not thought about it further.
At this point, Gisele Perico left the courtroom for several minutes, saying, “I can’t stand that man.”
Vincent C. admitted the experience was “weird” and different from what he had encountered with other couples. Still, he continued, “I didn’t say to myself, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ … I didn’t think about anything else[in that moment].”
But as she spoke with her mother and lawyer and watched the trial unfold, Vincent C. said she came to understand French law better, the meaning of rape, and the gravity of her actions.
“When I heard the details of the incident, I found that the act I committed was certainly equivalent to rape.”
“Do you know that Gisele Perico was the victim of your actions?” the judge asked.
“yes.”
Pericot himself has admitted all charges.
Outside the courtroom, a lawyer representing another male defendant distinguished Pericot from the other men.
“Today, it is clear that Dominic Perico’s position is to try to dilute his responsibility by dragging down 50 other people. (Giselle) is the victim. The problem is that others are complicit in it. Or were they tricked into participating?” Paul Roger Gontar said.
Some of the defendants admitted to the rape, while others claimed that they spoke and interacted with Gisele Perico in the bedroom.
“Therefore, there is a gray area in this trial,” Gontard continued, pointing to the fact that the video itself had already been edited by Pericotte himself, meaning evidence that could be helpful to the defense was cut out. He pointed out that this means that there is a possibility that
“He chose what he wanted to leave behind. He chose his shots. But don’t let that fool you. Everyone says he’s very manipulative.
“Many (of the accused) thought it was a free plan of the couple, but it turned out to be a sinister and criminal plan devised by the husband.
“The question today is when did they realize something was wrong? This realization varies by (the accused). The question often arises: why didn’t they quit? Naked “When you’re faced with a clearly dominant personality in a situation that’s being recorded on camera, it’s not so easy to walk away in that moment,” the lawyer added.
Marianne Bezenet/BBC
Gisele Pericot’s words: “I have been sacrificed on the altar of vice” are displayed on the streets of Avignon.
Speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, another defendant who had already given evidence at the trial spoke to the BBC in a small house on the outskirts of Avignon, a 10-minute drive from the court. The man, a nurse by profession, described himself as Dominic Pericot’s victim.
“It was scary…I was like an instrument. He told me, ‘Do this.’ This man is not normal, I told myself, he is a psychopath. It’s an ambush, a trap. He’s going to kill me in this house,” the accused man said.
He also said that Gisele Perico “responsive to simple caresses and scratched her body in a coordinated manner,” leading him to believe that she was conscious and was simply pretending to be asleep. he claimed.
When I countered that he was just trying to present himself as a victim to avoid responsibility, he insisted that he wasn’t.
He repeatedly criticized the way the trial was conducted, alleged “pseudo-feminists” and the “hysteria” caused by the media.
Reuters
Mazan, where Pericot lived, was torn apart by the court.
He insisted forcefully, but occasionally sobbing, that he was not a rapist. But he admitted. “I will never be considered innocent in this matter. I will always feel guilty. I know that.”
The trial in Avignon will continue for several more weeks, with a verdict expected just before Christmas.
Only half of the accused have been called to testify so far, but the case has already revealed in the most harrowing details the horrors suffered by Gisele Perico and her extraordinary courage in denying her right to privacy. I made it.
The case also highlighted long-standing debates about French law and attitudes around rape, and the extent to which a woman’s consent can or should be taken into account in court.
Many of the men admitted their wrongdoing and, like Vincent C., even apologized to Gisele Pericot in court, but also argued that they had not intended to rape her and should not have been found guilty.
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support is available through the BBC Action Line.
