Who is Dominique Pélicot? Psychiatrists and psychologists delved deeper into the profile of the 71-year-old man on Monday, who was tried in France for drugging his wife for a decade so that she could be raped by strangers contacted on the Internet.
According to the criteria of
“Affectionate” grandfather and a “super guy” by day, for his now ex-wife, but a rapist by night. A first psychologist began to outline last Friday the “double face” of this “perverse manipulator.”
“By day, you can be coherent and by night, you can seem different,” said expert Bruno Daunizeau, who spoke of “Dr. Jekyll,” referring to the sinister scientist in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel.
The first expert to testify before the court on Monday, psychologist Marianne Douteau, stressed for her part Dominique’s “choleric” character Pellicotwhich inspired “fear”, “lies and secrecy”.
These traits would be similar to those of his father, whom he hated. His parents ran a hotel-restaurant and he had worked in the nuclear industry before moving into real estate, with little success.
“Mr. Pélicot’s sexuality seems to be a direct reflection of his personality: ordinary in public, but with his partner he has a tenacious sexuality,” Douteau told the court in Avignon, southern France.
The psychologist gave as an example the exchange of couples that his wife and main victim, Gisèle Pellicotflatly rejected and that the accused compensated by “using pornographic chat sites”.
Mr. Pélicot’s sexuality seems to be a carbon copy of his personality: ordinary in public, but with his partner he has a tenacious sexuality.
“In 50 years, I have never seen him say anything inappropriate or obscene about a woman,” his now ex-wife said Thursday, as her lawyers confirmed Monday that the divorce was finalized in August.
The main victim then described the “seductive young man with long hair” with whom she fell in love in the summer of 1971 and with whom she formed a “fusional couple”, without impositions.
His grandchildren, whom he helped with their homework and accompanied to their sporting activities, adored him. With his neighbours, he would go cycling on the iconic Mont Ventoux, near his home in Mazan.
But No one suspected that at night and sometimes during the day he transformed into a recruiter of strangers to rape his drugged wife, something that occurred, according to investigations, about 200 times between July 2011 and October 2020.first in the Paris region and then in Mazan.
What’s next in the trial?
Pélicot, who sits in the dock with 50 other men who allegedly sexually abused his unconscious wife, faces one of the crucial days of the trial on Tuesday, as He will be questioned about his personality and the events that took place between 2011 and 2020.
On Monday, he missed the initial hearing due to a urinary problem, according to his lawyer, who insisted that he intends to be present tomorrow and that, if he could not, he would request a postponement of the hearing.
He appeared very weak as he entered the dock, leaning on his cane, an AFP journalist noted in the courtroom.
In addition to Pélicot, The trial will see another 50 men – one of them in rebellion – tried until mid-December for aggravated rape, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison..
Their lawyers announced to the press on Monday that they will file complaints for threats after the personal data of the accused was published on social networks, in this case that went around the world.
The analysis: egocentric, narcissistic and voyeur
Pélicot is a self-centered narcissist who had an uncontrollable desire to fulfill his sexual fantasies.
This is the analysis presented this Monday at the trial by the expert who was commissioned by the Justice to carry out the psychological analysis of PellicotAnnabelle Montagne, who insisted that she had no mental problems or mental pathologies that prevented her from discerning right from wrong. A fundamental element when it comes to considering him criminally responsible.
Montagne said he had no known addictions, other than possibly to sex, which resulted in frequent use of pornographic content, and that he had a tendency towards voyeurism.
As for his wife, Gisèle, he saw her as an object to satisfy his needs and desires, rather than a person he had to respect, the psychologist explained.
Reports describe him as a “manipulator” with a “perverse” personality, who used his then wife as “bait.” Dominique Pélicot is also said to have fallen into a “dynamic of sexual addiction.”
When he was arrested in 2020 after being caught filming up the skirts of female customers in a shopping centre, the man expressed his “relief” because he “was not able” to stop himself. But his family is now systematically questioning his statements. According to his daughter Caroline, “he only tells part of the truth when he is cornered”.
Dominique Pélicot presented himself as a respected and appreciated family man (he has three children with Gisèle and six grandchildren), with correct psycho-affective functioning and stable personal relationships in both their private and professional lives.
Psychiatrist warns that there is ‘no consent’ in this case
Another expert who examined the defendant, psychiatrist Paul Bensussan, explained during his testimony that This case “is not a game of domination-submission, because there is no consent” from one of the parties.
It’s not a domination-submission game, because there is no consent.
He also considered that Pélicot “has no moral limits” and that it is a case of several paraphilias, especially voyeurism, although he explained that it is “strange that he has fixed all his paraphilias over time”, since it is usual for them to change over the years.
Bensussan explained that The victim was suffering from what she described as “a light coma” due to the medication given to her by her now ex-husband, who she described as “notable coldness, lack of empathy” and “objectification” of his ex-wife.
The experts’ testimony took place in a room that was empty of the public, although the proceedings can be followed on video in an adjoining room, which is packed and has no free space, given the enormous interest that this trial has generated. If a member of the public leaves, another member of the queue enters to take his place.
During breaks, Some of the defendants present try to conceal their identity with caps, masks or sunglasses, while chatting briefly among themselves.
Pélicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, told reporters after the presentation of the expert report that there was “a great dichotomy” in her client’s personality: on the one hand he behaved like a “helpful, kind, good man in every sense”, and on the other “he discovered himself at night through his deviations”.
Zavarro wanted to highlight from his reading of the psychological report that retirement and the family’s move to the south-east of France (he had previously lived in the Paris region) had weakened some barriers and brought to the surface a dark personality that could have originated from abuse that he himself suffered as a child.
Worried about his image in the family
Montagne examined him in September 2020, a few weeks after his arrest, and at that time His concern was mainly focused on the image that his family and social environment would have of him.
That is to say, he was not worried about the physical and mental state of his wife, with whom he had been in a relationship for almost 50 years and from whom he finally divorced at the end of last August, a few days before the start of the trial on 2 September.
In fact, he told the psychologist that It was impossible for him to stop this practice of drugging his wife to watch other men have sex with her without her consent if he was not discovered.
It all ended when he was arrested for filming under the skirts of some women in a supermarket in Carpentras and when searching his computer files, investigators discovered thousands of videos and photos showing the practices he subjected his wife to while under the influence of tranquilizers.
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