The trial of a French man who hired dozens of strangers to drug and rape his wife has revealed that another man living in the same area copied the technique, drugging his own wife and raping her.
Dominique Perico, 71, is on trial in the southern city of Avignon for repeatedly raping his wife, who he gave large amounts of anesthetic drugs to, and soliciting dozens of strangers to rape her, over a 10-year period in their bed in the southern village of Mazan. Fifty other men, aged between 26 and 74, are also on trial for their alleged involvement.
The trial is being made public at the request of Perico's ex-wife, Gisele, 71, who said she made the request to raise awareness of the use of drugs in sexual abuse.
On Wednesday, the five-judge tribunal heard that another man on trial, also named Jean-Pierre, was an alleged “protégé” of Dominique Perico, and was not on trial for raping Gisèle Perico, but for raping his own wife using the same method and asking Perico to rape her as well.
Jean-Pierre, 63, a former truck driver for the agricultural cooperative, is said to have been in contact with Perico through chat rooms and, with Perico's involvement, to have used the same method to sedate and rape his own wife. Perico is said to have sedated and raped the man's wife and then turned himself in.
The 12 rapes against Jean-Pierre's wife are alleged to have occurred between 2015 and 2020. Jean-Pierre said in court that he admitted to the charges.
Police investigators said Jean-Pierre told police he met Perico in a chat room on a now-closed website called “Without Her Knowing.” Lead investigator Stephane Gall told the court that Jean-Pierre told investigators he had asked Perico to come to his home when his wife was drugged.
“Every time [Pélicot] Traveled [there]”He gave him the medicine for the next time,” Gall said. Mr Perico's lawyer told the court that Mr Perico said he gave Jean-Pierre the medicine four times.
Jean-Pierre's wife is not a civil party to the case because she “has five children and she wanted to protect them”, Gall told the court, adding that what happened was “shocking” given the footage police had shown her.
“The charges are very serious and I think he knows that,” Jean-Pierre's 32-year-old son from his first marriage said. He said his father should speak out in court. He said he felt “without a doubt” Jean-Pierre was manipulated by Perico. “I'm convinced that if he had never met this person, this would never have happened,” he said.
The court heard that Jean-Pierre's childhood was marked by extreme poverty and violence and sexual abuse within his family: “I was raised by pigs in the forest,” he would tell his children.
Of the 51 defendants, 18 are in custody, including Perico and Jean-Pierre, while the other 32 are free to attend the trial. The last is still at large and will be tried in absentia. If convicted of rape, most of the defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.
The trial is expected to continue until December.
