‘Gisèle Pelicot case will change the world – UK will take lessons’ says minister

Jess Phillips, the minister responsible for tackling violence against women, said Gisèle Pelicot’s story ‘is going to change the world’ as lessons will be learned the world over

Gisèle Pelicot will change the world, the UK’s minister for stopping violence against women and girls has said.

Jess Phillips told The Mirror that the horrendous rape case has “made the world stand still with horror”. On Thursday 49 men – including Mrs Pelicot’s husband – were found guilty of aggravated rape, while a further two were convicted of sexual assault.

Ms Pelicot said during the weeks-long trial in southern France, her mind was on “the unrecognised victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows”. Following the case, Ms Phillips said: “The Gisèle Pelicot court case has made the world stand still with horror and respect for her.

“I think that Gisèle Pelicot deserves every award that could possibly ever be given to her, not because of just her bravery, but because I think her story is going to change the world.”

The Labour minister continued: “Absolutely we will take learnings from the Gisèle Pelicot case. I imagine that’s the same around the world.”

Ms Pelicot’s former husband of 50 years, Dominique Pélicot, 71, was jailed for 20 years. The rapist lead a sick campaign of abuse against his wife, running an online chatroom titled ‘without her knowledge’, advertising for men to perform vile sexual acts while she was drugged.

Several of these men returned to abuse her unresponsive body again and again. And yet, not one of them attempted to check if she had consented.

The mother-of-three was unknowingly sedated and sexually abused dozens of times at their family home in Mazan, a commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France.

Dominique Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him surreptitiously filming up women’s skirts. Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife – more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked “abuse,” “her rapists,” “night alone” and other titles.

This sickening evidence led police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers, but weren’t able to identify them all.

The 51 men convicted

1. Dominique Pelicot, 72: Sentenced to 20 years for aggravated rape. He was also guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of another woman, and taking indecent images of three women

2. Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63: Sentenced to 12 years for attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife, as well as drugging her and inviting Dominique Pelicot to rape her too.

3. Charly Arbo, 30: Sentenced to 13 years for aggravated rape

4. Cyrille Delville: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape. Sentenced to eight years

5. Christian Lescole: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

6. Lionel Rodriguez, 44: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

7. Nicolas Francois, 43: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery

8. Jacques Cubeau, 73: Sentenced to five years for aggravated rape

9. Patrice Nicolle, 55: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

10. Thierry Parisis, 54: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

11. Simoné Mekenese, 43: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

12. Nizar Hamida, 40: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

13. Boris Moulin, 37: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

14. Jerome Vilela, 46: Sentenced to 13 years for aggravated rape

15. Didier Sambuchi, 68: Sentenced to five years for aggravated rape

16. Quentin Hennebert, 34: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

17. Philippe Leleu, 62: Sentenced to five years – of which two are suspended – for aggravated rape

18. Jean-Luc LA, 46: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

19. Fabien Sotton: Sentenced to 11 years for aggravated rape

20. Karim Sebaoui, 40: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery

21. Joan Kawai: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

22. Jean-Marc LeLoup, 74: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape

23. Andy Rodriguez, 37: Sentenced to six years for attempted rape and aggravating factors

24. Vincent Coullet, 43: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

25. Adrien Longeron, 34: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape and child abuse imagery

26. Hughes Malago, 39: Sentenced to five years for attempted rape and two aggravating factors

27. Ahmed Tbarik, 54: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

28. Husamettin Dogan, 43: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

29. Romain Vandevelde, 63: Sentenced to 15 years for aggravated rape

30. Joseph Cocco, 69: Sentenced to three years for aggravated sexual assault

31. Saifeddine Ghabi, 37: Sentenced to three years for sexual assault

32. Jean Tirano, 52: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

33. Mohamed Rafaa, 70: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

34. Ludovick Blemeur, 39: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

35. Patrick Aron, 60: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape

36. Abdelali Dallal, 47: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

37. Grégory Serviol, 33: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

38. Cedric Grassot, 50: Sentenced to 12 years for aggravated rape

39. Cendric Venzin, 44: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

40. Mahdi Daoudi, 36: Sentenced to eight years for mass rape and drugging

41. Thierry Postat, 61: Sentenced to 12 years for aggravated mass rape and drugging, and possession of child abuse images

42. Florian Rocca: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

43. Dominique Davies, 45: Sentenced to 13 years for aggravated rape

44. Cyprien Culieras, 45: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape

45. Mathieu Dartus, 53: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

46. Cyril Beaubis, 47: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

47. Paul-Koikoi Grovogui, 31: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

48. Omar Douiri, 36: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

49. Redouane Azougagh, 40: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

50. Hassan Ouamou, 30: Sentenced to 12 years for aggravated rape

51. Redouane El Farihi: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape