Associate of Frenchman on trial for mass rape admits to copycat abuse
Global News
Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63, told the French courtroom that Dominique Pélicot supplied the tranquilizers and acted as a mentor to him.
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A presumed accomplice of a man currently on trial in France for allegedly inviting dozens of men to rape his drugged and unconscious wife over the course of a decade told court Wednesday that he learned how to commit copycat crimes on his own wife under the tutelage of Dominique Pélicot.
Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63, told the French courtroom that Dominique Pélicot acted as a mentor to him after the pair met on a now-defunct website, where Dominique shared images of other men raping Gisèle Pélicot and asked Marechal if he would allow him to rape his wife, Cilia.
Marechal said, at first, he turned down the offer, but eventually relented and worked with Dominique to drug and rape Cilia.
“I regret my actions. I love my wife,” Marechal said in the courtroom in Avignon, in southern France.
“If I had not met Mr. Pélicot, I would have never committed this act. He was reassuring, like a cousin,” he continued, saying he was supplied tranquilizers by Dominique.
“I’m in jail and I deserve it,” he said. “What I did is appalling. I’m a criminal and a rapist.”
The trial of Dominique and 50 other men accused of raping Gisèle has shocked the world. The case has also triggered protests across France in support of Gisèle, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence.
