France shocked by drugged rape case • FRANCE 24 English

now a gruesome court case continues in the city of aeno in the south of France involving a man accused of orchestrating multiple rapes of his wife by strangers over the course of years Dominique P has admitted to the charges including drugging his wife he was exposed by chance after being caught filming up women's skirts at a local supermarket today his wife known as Jazelle p is taking the stand and she has insisted that the trial take place in public so the truth comes out for more on this story we can bring in SOL mja SOL um it's rare for a trial like this to be held in open court isn't it yeah it is and it's really a testament uh to the courage of the victim uh jizel pelico and she and her lawyers specifically requested and fought for the trial to be open for her name to be used for journalists in the world to Bear witness to what happened to her and her family now in court on the stand today she said she's doing this quote in the name of all the women who won't be recognized or perhap per won't be recognized as victims uh with an open trial her lawyers well they say that she wants to quote the shame to shift sides and it is indeed quite rare to stand up publicly with such stoicism in the face of such Horrors uh that happened to her and her family this in this regard she said uh today in the over one hour one and a half hours of testimony quote my facade may see seem strong but inside I am a field of ruins the so what exactly is this trial about well it's simply one horror after another uh jizel Pico's husband uh Dominique pedo is accused of drugging her with sleeping pills between 2011 and 2020 in addition to repeatedly raping her he W while she was unconscious he recruited strangers uh online to rape her as well he admitted his guilt over the charges against him and in total there are some 50 other men on on trial for abusing and raping her now 18 are in custody while 32 others are free while awaiting the verdict uh they are men of all walks of life and many have families for example now how the abuse came to light is also quite staggering as you just mentioned in 2020 uh Dominque pedico was uh caught and Accused by three women in a grocery store trying to film uh up their skirts he was arrested and that's when police found uh on his electronic devices 300 photographs uh and a video of an unconscious woman uh being assaulted by multiple men now in total police would find 4,000 uh videos and photos in a folder entitled AB or abuse uh they also found evidence of how he would invite men to rape his wife on a chat Forum called as Anu or without her knowledge and indeed uh on the stand today jiz pedo described how uh her world simply fell apart on the 2nd of November 2020 when police officers they showed her images of herself unconscious being raped repeatedly quote I was warm but my body was like a dead person's she said in her testimony she also said that police saved her life by looking through that computer so long this trial has of course Rock France but it's also GED a lot of attention around the world has it raised awareness uh or attention about rape and the use of chemical substances well I think jizel Pico's decision to publicly come forward uh as well as her daughter's book and work in in this regard well they've helped push to the Forefront of people's minds the risks of chemical submission of rape in France but also in worldwide now in regard to France the latest numbers uh that we have on chemical submission are from 2021 they are thought to be much smaller these numbers uh are thought to be much smaller than the actual number of victims but three years ago uh there were 721 official reports of chemical submission only 82 would be backed with tox backed up by toxicology reports now what's interesting here too is that while most of the drugs used uh if you put them all together uh they are often medicine like benzos or Valiums uh opioids sleeping pills but there has also been a big jump of the use of recreational subtances which you see there the 44% um most of the cases happen to women uh men can also be victims of this as well advocats say that there are some key red flags to look out for nausea vertigo Amnesia confusion falling asleep suddenly they say that if you have doubts uh it's best to keep the in the possibly incriminating food or drink if you can but also to get your hair test it his Trace has remain longer in your hair now beyond the risk of a chemical submission this court case has also raised questions about whether doctors are trained well enough to spot such abuses as G said Petty Co spent years wondering about her gynec gynecological problems and her absences it's also raised questions about whether France's laws can better protect rape victims by adding or not it's not it's a big debate that's going on in France the the word consent to the legal definition of rape it's rare we have we hear a lot of horrific stories as journalists this makes your this story makes your jaw drop and not in a good way and this woman is so brave uh given all she went through for years thank you very much for uh explaining this story in DET tell to us here Sal thank you