French mass rape trial hears testimony
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2024
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A disturbing mass-rape trial from Mazan in south west France which has got the whole country addressing its attitude towards gender-based violence.
Dominique Pelicot, who is accused of drugging his now ex-wife to sleep and recruiting dozens of men to abuse her, has admitted to all the charges against him. We'll hear from an expert in the psychology behind coercive control.
Also in the programme: The head of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the world's media are not giving the crisis in Sudan the attention it deserves; and should there be a legal right to work from home?
(Photo shows rape survivor Gisele Pelicot arrives at the criminal court in Avignon, France on 17 September 2024. Credit: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour live from the BBC World Service in London. |
| 0:08.0 | I'm Rebecca Kessby. |
| 0:10.0 | Coming up on the program today, we'll have more on that breaking news that dozens of |
| 0:14.4 | Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon have been injured by their pages exploding. That's a |
| 0:20.4 | story just broken in the past hour or so, but we lead the program today with a disturbing story from southeastern France from Mausanne, which has shocked the country and a warning it is harrowing and graphic, |
| 0:35.0 | but it's opened up an important conversation in France and elsewhere |
| 0:39.0 | about sexual consent and sex-based violence. Today 71-year-old Dominic Pelico has been |
| 0:46.2 | testifying in court. He's at the center of a mass rape trial. He's accused |
| 0:51.0 | of repeatedly drugging his former wife Giselle without her knowledge and systematically |
| 0:56.8 | raping her over many years. |
| 0:59.5 | What makes this story all the more disturbing is that he's accused of arranging dozens of other men to also |
| 1:06.2 | rape her while she was unconscious and therefore unable to consent. |
| 1:11.0 | 50 men are co-accused and will face their own trials. But today, |
| 1:15.3 | Dominic Pelico admitted to the crimes against him and begged for forgiveness, |
| 1:20.6 | speaking to reporters outside the court in Avignon |
| 1:23.6 | his lawyer Beatrice Zavaro said Mr Pelico was repentant. |
| 1:28.0 | I've just seen him and he is obviously very downcast. He asked his wife to forgive him for |
| 1:36.8 | everything that happened. I don't know what Mrs Pelico will decide to do with this |
| 1:40.9 | request and this proposal. |
| 1:43.2 | But whatever happens, that's where he is, he will continue. |
| 1:47.6 | Let's say that it's a confessional. |
| 1:49.5 | We know that he will continue for sure. |
... |
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