Dominic Pellico admitted to all the charges against him – drugging and raping his wife and recruiting dozens of men to rape her. Prosecutors are demanding that judges sentence him to the maximum 20-year prison term for aggravated rape.
“I am a rapist,” he told the judges. “I admit all the facts (of the case) in their entirety.” He apologized to his ex-wife and three children, but his actions tore the Pellicott family apart.
The rest of the accused come from different walks of life, and most of them are from a radius of 50 km (30 miles) from the village of Pelikotau Mazan. The fact that they are firefighters, security guards and truck drivers earned them the name Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde (Mr. Everyman). Most of them also have children.
50 of the 51 are charged with aggravated rape and attempted rape.
Romain V, 63, faces 18 years in prison if convicted. He is accused of raping Giselle Pellicot six times, knowing that he was HIV-infected. His lawyer says he could not have transmitted the infection because he had been receiving treatment for many years.
Another 10 people may be sentenced to 15-17 years, and for 38 others, the prosecutor’s office demands 10 to 14 years of imprisonment.
Ahead of the sentencing, one of the few men to confess to the rape told the BBC through his daughter that many people made a snap decision: “There wasn’t enough time. It was a bad job for me.”
According to the French Ministry of Justice, the average prison term for rape is 11.1 years.
One man is charged not with rape, but with aggravated sexual assault. Prosecutors say Joseph S., a 69-year-old retired athletic trainer and grandfather, faces the lightest possible sentence — four years in prison.
Some of them apologized for their behavior, but many did not.
Cyril B said he felt sorry for Giselle Pellico.
“I’m ashamed of myself, I’m disgusted,” Jean-Pierre M. said this week. The lawyer hopes that the judges will take into account his remorse.
