Gisèle Pelicot: A Tragic Case of Abuse

Since the start of September, in the French city of Avignon, Judge Roger Arata and his four colleagues heard how 50 men, now aged between 27 and 74, visited the Pelicots' home in the village of Mazan. Dominique Pelicot (72) was sentenced (19 December 2024) for 20 years in prison, for aggravated rape, after he had drugged and abused his then wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and invited dozens of strangers to rape her. Most of the 50 other men denied the charges of rape. However, the Court found 47 of them guilty, 2 guilty of attempted rape and 2 guilty of sexual assault. Many of them fathers, from towns and villages within a 30 mile radius of the Pelicots' village of Mazan. Amongst them were firefighters, ambulance driver, lorry drivers, soldiers, security guards, delivery drivers, a journalist and a DJ. 17 of those convicted filed appeals.

For almost a decade, Gisèle Pelicot was unknowingly given sedatives by her ex-husband, who has admitted to raping her and inviting men he had recruited online to have sex with her in her bed at home while she was unconscious and unaware.

Although Dominique Pelicot admitted the charges against him, most of the other men on trial denied what they did was rape. It was Gisèle's decision to waive her anonymity and throw this trial into the open - in her words 'making 'shame swap sides' from the victim to the rapist. Her courage has turned her into a feminist icon.

Dominique has also been found guilty of attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused, Jean-Pierre Marechal - who admitted drugging and raping his own wife, Cillia, and inviting Dominique to rape her too. Marechal was found guilty of attempted rape and aggravated rape. Dominique Pelicot was further convicted of taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine. "I am a rapist," he previously told the judges. "I acknowledge all the facts in their entirety." He had begged his ex-wife and three children for forgiveness.

Prosecutors had asked for jail sentences for the defendants ranging from four years to 20 years, the maximum sentence for a charge of aggravated rape. One of the defendants, who admitted the charges, previously called the trial rushed and 'botched'. Campaigners said this case proved the need for consent to be built into France's rape laws, as it is in other European countries.

What is the case all about?

From 2011 to 2020, Dominique Pelicot plied his wife with tranquilising drugs and sleeping pills without her knowledge, crushed them into powder and added them to her food and drink. Gisèle Pelicot suffered memory loss and blackouts because of the drugs and she spoke of 10 lost years of her life. He was eventually caught because a security guard reported him to police for taking photographs under women's skirts in a supermarket.

"I thought we were a close couple," she once told the court. Instead, her husband was going on a notorious but now banned website to invite local men to their home to have sex with her while she was comatose. "I was sacrificed on the altar of vice," Gisèle Pelicot said early in the trial. The case is a poignant example of the complexities of domestic violence and of the urgent need for societal change. Her story is a call for authorities to take definite steps to end abuse and to support those who have suffered. Just saying 'lessons were learned' is insufficient. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c390d8nd4n4o

Psychopathy demonstrates impaired empathy and moral reasoning - along with traits of boldness and egocentrism. Superficial charm can suggest normalcy. c1% of people may exhibit psychopathic traits. Unethical behaviour (in certain contexts) can range from 10-30%. However, psychological analysis was not suggested. In any event, the Pelicot case provides a stark reminder, of how societal and personal values - rather the lack thereof - leads to devastating results. A return to moral teaching and character formation, starting in schools, is a sine qua non, with appropriate follow-up. It is too late in criminals' lives to use the legal system to correct aberrant behaviour. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661044/full https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/evidence-reviews/ethical-behaviour/

The psychological principle which can help explain such aberrant behaviour is often linked to opportunistic crime or situational factors - when perpetrators act because of a lack of accountability - the 'broken windows theory'. Studied by Philip Zimbardo and introduced by George Kelling and James Wilson, it holds that environmental indicators of disorder, such loitering and broken windows, invite criminal activity and should be prosecuted. https://www.simplypsychology.org/broken-windows-theory.html

More fundamentally, deindividuation occurs when individuals feel anonymous, leading to a diminished sense of moral accountability. In the case of Gisèle Pelicot, the organized involvement of multiple individuals likely contributed to this psychological phenomenon. It is driven by factors like:

Anonymity: When people feel they cannot be identified, they can act in ways they would not otherwise do.
Diffusion of Responsibility: In a group, individuals may feel less personally responsible for their actions.
Arousal and Group Dynamics: Emotional arousal and the influence of group norms overrides personal morals.

The absence of moral teaching and a lack of robust social principles should be addressed. Deindividuation thrives where ethical grounding and personal accountability are weak. The importance of fostering strong moral frameworks at home, in schools and within society, is set aside, however, for political reasons (cherry-picking a moral code cannot duly be defended). In England and Wales, police recorded 69,958 rapes from October 2023 to September 2024 - averaging around 1,345 rapes per week (many cases going unreported).