The ‘ordinary men’ accused of raping Gisèle Pélicot

“I feel really bad for him and his family because he was a really nice guy,” he recalled, as he served coffee from behind the bar.

“He was a family man, a Monsieur Tout-le-Monde,” said Mr Flegon, using a French phrase meaning “Mr Everyone”, or “your average Joe”.

It has become the disturbing buzzword of the mass rape trial unfolding in Avignon, southern France, of a husband accused of repeatedly drugging his wife unconscious and recruiting dozens of “ordinary” men to abuse her while she lay comatose and he filmed.

Like many defendants, Delville, a 54-year-old state construction worker and father of two adult children who has been with the same partner for 32 years, has no criminal record.

His wife told police the pair had a “totally normal sex life” and made love “two or three times a week”, sometimes with the use of a sex toy but nothing more transgressive. He’d had a couple of mistresses and was an occasional porn watcher.

“Monsieur Tout-le-Monde” fits him well. Yet Delville and 50 other men each face 20 years in prison for the aggravated rape of Gisèle Pélicot, 72.

Mrs Pelicot has become a figurehead for women after waiving her right to anonymity, so that she can face her assailants in court and raise awareness of “chemical submission” – drugging victims to commit sexual abuse.

Like two other defendants, Delville was a regular at Mr Flegon’s bar-brasserie, Le Siècle. The restaurant is the social heart of Mazan, the small village in Provence that has shot to notoriety as the former home of Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old pensioner at the centre of the trial.

“Unfortunately, he now has to answer for his actions,” said the bar owner, with a pronounced southern accent, shaking his head.

Since the trial began three weeks ago, Mrs Pélicot has bravely called on the accused – some 35 of whom deny rape – to admit that sedation had turned her into a “rag doll, a bin bag”, and had made it clear this was no libertine game to which she had consented.

“Rape is rape,” she told a defence lawyer who “humiliated” her by insinuating that her clients might have been duped into thinking she was a willing party.

“For once in your life, take responsibility for your actions,” she told the men, who represent a cross-section of society, including a journalist, joiner, prison guard, fireman and nurse.

Video evidence

A film of Delville in a dark T-shirt and black socks engaging in intercourse with Mrs Pélicot was found in her husband’s computer files, dating from September 2019.

Delville also admitted filming Pélicot abusing his comatose wife, despite her snores. In the film, the two men whisper. When Mrs Pelicot stirs in her drugged slumber, the husband tells Delville to leave the bedroom.

When first questioned by police, Delville said he had come across Pélicot on a swingers’ website and had been sent photos apparently showing Pélicot’s nude wife with other men. Mrs Pélicot has since confirmed it is not her in the photographs.

Delville claimed he had no idea Mrs Pélicot was drugged without her knowledge. He denied rape and said he had “no doubt” she had “consented”.

But, shown the graphic videos, Delville backtracked to admit knowing Mrs Pélicot was aware of nothing, saying: “I did what [her husband] wanted, I don’t know why. I couldn’t stop. I was disconnected.”

In the dock on Friday, he told the court he had a tyrannical alcoholic father nicknamed Hitler who forced him to lie nude in the snow for wetting his bed. He was placed in a foster home.

His relationship with women? “I always respected my wife and her decisions. She didn’t belong to me: if she didn’t want something, I respected it.”

“He’s never made any inappropriate gestures towards me or any of my girlfriends,” said his daughter. “He’s respectful, helpful and hard-working. We have a close relationship. He taught me the values of life.”

The public prosecutor pointed out that eight months after his arrest, Delville told the investigating judge: “I did not have Madame Pelicot’s consent. I am guilty of rape.”

“Can we consider that this position is the one that should be retained, definitively?” asked the public prosecutor.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I was naive, stupid, an ass,” Delville said.

Outwardly unassuming

Two other defendants have been questioned over rape charges of Mrs Pélicot. Both appear at least outwardly unassuming.

Lionel Rodriguez is a 44-year-old former supermarket employee and father of three, described by his friends as “upright and honest, a loving husband and father”. He said he wrongly thought he was taking part in a libertine “game” and did not think it was abuse – but then noticed “something was wrong”.

Mr Pélicot sent him pictures of his wife naked in the couple’s garden, he said, adding: “I never imagined that she might not be part of this game. That was my first huge error.”

“I didn’t ask myself too many questions,” he confessed, when asked about how he set up a nocturnal rendezvous at the Pélicots’ home. “I’m not looking for excuses. I lost my bearings.”

His intention was not to rape, he said, but “since I never obtained Mrs Pelicot’s consent, I have no choice but to accept the facts”.

‘Kind and caring’

Among the oldest in the dock is Jacques Cubeau, a 72-year-old retired marine firefighter, truck driver, and pizzeria owner described by his family as “kind and caring” whose Catholic upbringing has led him to “do good around him”.

“I have the deepest respect for women,” said the grandfather, prompting the judge to ask: “How can one reconcile this declaration with the charges brought against you of rape of an unconscious woman?”

“I thought it was a fantasy of theirs… I got the idea that it was a shy woman in a swinging couple,” he said, offering his apologies but denying rape.

His insistence he did not have penetrative or oral sex (he claimed he didn’t use his tongue) with Ms Pelicot prompted the judge to show for the first time a shocking video of Cubeau apparently doing just that.

“I became aware that potentially I was abusing her but was a bit slow in catching on,” he mumbled by way of an explanation.

After the video was played, presiding judge Roger Arata ruled that further images would not be shown when the public or journalists were in court, despite Mrs Pélicot’s request the footage be made public without restrictions.

“We must not shy away from coming face to face with rape,” said Stephane Babonneau, one of Mrs Pélicot’s lawyers. “This is the trial with the potential to change society [but we] must have the courage to face what rape actually is,” she said.

Defendants booed

As the trial continues, defendants have been booed, leading some to threaten journalists and demonstrators. One even hit a camera crew and was caught on camera shouting: “Watch out or I’ll rape your mother too.”

Public support for Mrs Pélicot, meanwhile, is rising every day, with well-wishers cheering her court appearances.

France now wonders whether the trial could be a turning point for a patriarchal society that tolerates the treatment of women as objects.

Speaking to France Info, Rose Lamy, a feminist writer, said the case could finally end the idea that sexism and sexual violence were only committed by “others” – perverts, monsters, serial killers.

They were committed by “good family men” too, she said.

Ms Lamy said the fact that the victim was drugged and unconscious makes it hard to claim she somehow asked for it, and the overwhelming visual evidence means rape cannot be downplayed. “There is no real angle of attack against the victim,” she said.

Above all, Ms Lamy said: “This trial sets in stone the idea that such violence is committed by Monsieur Tout-le-Monde.”

“Feminist activists have been promoting this idea for years, but perhaps in restricted circles. With this trial, everyone will certainly be hearing about it from now on.”