AVIGNON, France: One in all greater than 50 males accused of raping Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot in a mass rape case that has shocked the world informed her in court docket on Thursday (Sep 19) that he was sorry for what he did.
Lionel Rodriguez is amongst a small variety of these accused who’ve admitted to raping Pelicot, who was abused by dozens of strangers over practically a decade whereas knocked unconscious by medicine her husband Dominique gave her with out her understanding.
Dominique Pelicot, who recruited the strangers on-line and invited them to the couple’s household home to rape his spouse, admitted to his crimes in court docket on Monday, saying: “I’m a rapist, identical to the others (the accused) on this room.”
Rodriguez, aged 44, and a father of three, mentioned on Thursday, talking to the 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot: “I’m sorry, I can solely think about the nightmare you’ve got lived via … and I’m a part of this nightmare. I do know my apologies will not change what occurred, however I wished to inform you that.”
The case has triggered protests throughout France in assist of Gisele Pelicot, who requested for the trial to not be held behind closed doorways with a view to make clear the abuse.
The truth that dozens of seemingly peculiar males, at present aged 26 to 74, and from all walks of life, might rape an unconscious girl has attracted worldwide consideration and turned the trial into an emblem of the pervasiveness of sexual violence.
Rodriguez admitted through the investigation that he had raped Gisele Pelicot. In court docket on Thursday, he repeated that he had not meant to rape her however realises that he did.
“If I had recognized she wasn’t conscious (of what would occur) I would not have gone there,” he mentioned. “I ought to have checked that she was okay with it. I did not speak to her, so I couldn’t get her consent. I really feel responsible for what I did.”
“I by no means informed myself: I’ll rape that girl,” he mentioned. However “I am responsible of rape,” he mentioned, including he ought to have left when he noticed she was unconscious, and that it was cowardly of him to not have mentioned something.
Rodriguez additionally tried to shift a few of the blame onto Dominique Pelicot, telling the court docket he had carried out what the husband had informed him to do.
