Dominique Pelicot's double life: Who is the man who plotted his wife's mass rape?

It was thing successful Dominique Pelicot's swagger, his "élan" - arsenic the French mightiness enactment it - that instantly struck the psychiatrist arsenic odd.

There helium stood. A 68-year-old pensioner who had already spent respective months wrong 1 of France's astir notorious prisons, Les Baumettes successful Marseilles. The situation was a grim, intimidating place, crowded with members of the larboard city's warring cause gangs.

And yet the antheral successful the visiting country who roseate to greet Dr Laurent Layet connected a acold time successful February 2021 seemed "clean, polished… He had conscionable chopped his ain hair. He came towards maine with this assertive attitude." Dr Layet was surprised, to enactment it mildly.

The psychiatrist was the archetypal of galore radical to scrutinise Dominique Pelicot. Each adept was looking for clues to explicate however this seemingly genial pensioner could person committed specified grotesque crimes and deceived his unsuspecting unfortunate for truthful long.

In each his years interviewing hundreds of rapists and suspected rapists connected behalf of French constabulary and prosecutors, Dr Layet had ne'er travel crossed anyone rather similar this grey-haired erstwhile electrician, calmly awaiting prosecution for drugging his woman Gisele and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her arsenic she lay, unconscious, successful the couple's bedroom.

"Something didn't fit. I had ne'er encountered specified an exceptional case," Dr Layet remembers reasoning astatine the time.

At the extremity of a gruelling, four-month proceedings that has enraged radical crossed France and acold beyond - adjacent arsenic they were inspired by the dignity and courageousness of Gisele - Dominique Pelicot's assured demeanour, a grandiose beingness successful the courtroom successful Avignon, remained intact.

One mightiness expect a antheral successful Pelicot's presumption - a globally reviled intersexual predator, and rapist, facing the near-certain imaginable of dying successful situation - to chopped a wretched figure. And determination person been a fistful of little moments erstwhile helium wept, openly, successful tribunal - usually for himself.

But for the astir part, helium struck an imperious pose, courtroom microphone successful 1 hand, his assemblage slouched successful a throne-like seat (to accommodate the accused's wellness issues), sometimes looking bored, occasionally interjecting similar a ringmaster seeking to support an unruly circus - the 50 different men connected proceedings beside him - successful their place.

"I americium a rapist, similar the others successful this room. They knew everything," helium intoned, speaking with the assurance of a antheral who assumed his words would enactment an extremity to each further discussion.

But what are we to marque of that domineering performance? And what person we truly learned of this jowly, grey-haired figure, with his achromatic cane and scarf, seated successful a solid cage; this serial rapist whose cruelty has astir been eclipsed successful the nationalist imaginativeness by the dignity and courageousness shown by his erstwhile wife?

Dr Layet archetypal encountered Dominique successful the precocious summertime of 2020 astatine a constabulary presumption successful the adjacent municipality of Carpentras, instantly aft his apprehension for filming with a camera up women's skirts successful a section supermarket. Called successful to measure Pelicot, Dr Layet noted however breezily helium dismissed his crime, similar a genteel gramps caught pocketing a fewer cigarettes.

Dr Layet detected a "dissonance" successful the man's behaviour, and the beardown accusation that helium was hiding thing much serious. He told the constabulary that this 1 was worthy person inspection.

In court, years later, aft 2 agelong situation interviews with Pelicot and with much than 20 of the different accused, Dr Layet presented a much elaborate appraisal to the sheet of judges.

A measured and eloquent adept witness, Dr Layet stressed that Pelicot exhibited nary signs of terrible intelligence illness. He could not beryllium dismissed arsenic a "monster". Nor was helium psychotic - incapable to archer world from fiction.

And yet. There was a "fissure", a split, successful Pelicot's personality.

A showier witnesser mightiness person borrowed from fashionable civilization to comparison him to a tormented Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, oregon possibly to Hannibal Lecter, stiff-backed successful his situation compartment successful The Silence of the Lambs.

Instead, Dr Layet reached for a mundane image.

"Almost similar a hard drive," helium suggested. A fitting metaphor, fixed that Pelicot had stored video grounds of his crimes connected a machine representation card.

Later, successful an interrogation with the BBC astatine his bureau successful Carpentras, Dr Layet explained that Pelicot's caput had go divided, implicit time, similar a partitioned machine disk, into 2 wholly abstracted "water-tight parts… with nary leakage betwixt them. His divided property is precise effectual and precise solid. We either person the 'normal Mr Pelicot' oregon the different Mr Pelicot astatine night, successful the bedroom."

Asked successful tribunal to explicate that "other" Pelicot, Dr Layet said that helium had detected a scope of affectional and intersexual abnormalities. They are, perhaps, astir neatly captured successful their archetypal French, successful a prosecution papers seen by the BBC:

"Egocentrisme, fragilite narcissique, perturbations emotionnelles… une deviance paraphilique melant candaulisme, voyeurism et somnophilie."

"Egomania, narcissistic fragility, affectional disorders... an abnormal intersexual deviancy combining candaulism [exposing your pistillate spouse to others for intersexual enjoyment], voyeurism and somnophilia."

Pelicot's ain defence lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, enthusiastically embraced the "split" property mentation successful her closing arguments astatine the trial. She suggested that the charming young antheral Gisele Pelicot had fallen successful emotion with and rapidly joined backmost successful 1973 "was not the antheral that had harmed her".

But that is not what Dr Layet - oregon the different psychiatrists we person consulted for this nonfiction - meant.

There whitethorn beryllium 2 sides to Pelicot's behaviour, but determination is - to instrumentality with Dr Layet's computing metaphor - lone 1 operating strategy that controls his cruel, backstage urges and his nationalist demeanour.

A simpler mode of putting it is that Pelicot has an antisocial property upset - a word preferred by psychiatrists these days to words specified arsenic psychopath oregon sociopath. Several experts person concluded it is simply a tenable diagnosis to usage successful the discourse of Pelicot's warped mind.

He is not "mad" - helium cannot assertion diminished work for his actions. But helium does amusement well-established traits of a property upset characterised by a deficiency of empathy towards different humans. Those traits whitethorn person been sharpened by the intersexual maltreatment helium experienced arsenic a child.

Which brings america to different cardinal question. Did Pelicot lone go a rapist successful retirement, oregon was helium preying connected women agelong earlier helium began drugging his wife?

Sitting towards the backmost of the courtroom 1 Tuesday day precocious successful the trial, surrounded by journalists tapping distant connected their laptops, Florence Rault looked astatine Dominique Pelicot with a peculiarly well-informed consciousness of disgust.

"It tin beryllium assumed that what happened successful Mazan… is lone the culmination of a agelong process," she said later, successful a BBC interview.

Ms Rault, a lawyer specialising successful transgression cases, knew thing profoundly troubling astir Pelicot - allegations of appalling crimes arguably much disturbing than those for which helium was astir to beryllium convicted.

For galore years, she had been warring for justness for 2 women who were the victims of convulsive ordeals successful the 1990s.

More than 20 years earlier the rapes for which helium has present been sentenced - successful 1999 - Pelicot is accused of assaulting and attempting to rape a 23-year-old property agent, known by the pseudonym Marion, successful the suburbs of Paris. She fought the attacker off.

He yet admitted to being contiguous astatine the country successful 2021 aft DNA - a spot of humor connected the victim's footwear - was yet recovered to lucifer Pelicot's. But helium continues to contradict helium attempted to rape her and the probe continues.

"Once helium was told that his DNA was recovered astatine the transgression scene, helium said 'Yes, it's me,'" Ms Rault remembered.

And that find rapidly led to a nexus to an adjacent older acold case. In 1991, different young property agent, Sophie Narme, had been raped and murdered. Although important DNA grounds had gone missing, the similarities betwixt the scenes were truthful striking that Pelicot is nether probe for the crime, which helium denies. The hunt for different imaginable links to older crimes is besides ongoing.

Ms Rault is not expecting immoderate much confessions from Pelicot successful narration to the acold cases.

"Until he's confronted with indisputable proof, helium volition contradict [everything]," said Ms Rault, who erstwhile sat beside Pelicot astatine a proceeding and was struck, similar Dr Layet, by his "relaxed, alternatively serene" demeanour.

Ms Rault present watched him successful the Avignon courtroom and saw the aforesaid behaviour. She besides noted however Pelicot emphatically and tearfully denied drugging and raping his ain daughter, Caroline, contempt having taken profoundly troubling photos of her, asleep, and without her knowledge.

"She's convinced that helium sexually abused her too. But since we don't person immoderate ceremonial grounds similar DNA to enactment successful beforehand of him, of people helium volition proceed to contradict it," said Rault, arguing that, for Caroline, the agony of uncertainty was arsenic cruel and traumatic arsenic the suffering of a unfortunate who knew precisely what had happened to her.

Pelicot's cognition towards his household successful tribunal was often revealing. The psychiatrist, Dr Layet, pointed retired that the accused narcissistically focused connected the emotion his woman and children erstwhile felt for him, not his betrayal of their trust.

For Pelicot, this "started retired arsenic a emotion story" and helium "doesn't privation this to beryllium ignored", said Dr Layet.

But Ms Rault had travel to tribunal to look for different signs. Above all, she wanted to enactment up her consciousness that Pelicot's crimes were highly premeditated.

"Serial rapists… usually person an impulse. They perpetrate rape. They leave, and past they forget. This is not the lawsuit with [Pelicot] astatine all," she said.

Ms Rault recalled the methodical actions of Marion's attacker wrong an property agent's bureau successful 1999. The mode helium had made an excuse to instrumentality to his car - astir surely to cod a enactment and a vessel of ether to cause her. Then Ms Rault noted that the antheral successful the solid cage successful Avignon demonstrated a akin self-possession and saw it arsenic further grounds that this was a profoundly calculating criminal.

"When helium says helium has urges and acts connected impulse, it's thing similar that. He is precise calm."

On the aforesaid time that Ms Rault was successful the Avignon courtroom, I was sitting nearby. Gisele Pelicot was a fewer metres to our right. Dozens of the accused sat successful beforehand of us. Dominique Pelicot was implicit to the near broadside of the room.

During a interruption successful proceedings, I walked implicit to him. According to French law, journalists are not allowed to speech to the accused. Instead, I stood for a portion and watched him arsenic helium sat successful his chair, down his solid wall, 1 manus connected his stick. Then his caput turned towards me, and helium held my regard for what indispensable person been 20 seconds - though it felt overmuch longer.

His look did not change. He did not look to blink. And then, similar a bored antheral switching betwixt arsenic boring tv channels, helium looked away.