Corinne, 53, is the ex-wife of Thierry P. She told the Vaucluse criminal court on Monday, September 30, that her ex-husband was "very kind" and "always benevolent" to her and their two children, and that the four of them were "very, very happy." Their son had died in a road accident, causing his father to sink into depression, and the couple had been separated for a few weeks when Thierry P. went to the town of Mazan one night in July 2020 to abuse Gisèle Pelicot.
"When they told me what he was accused of, I said 'never in a million years, it's not possible, it's absolutely not like him'. I asked him what had happened, but he couldn't explain, he didn't have the words." When it came to intimacy, said Corinne, "he had always been respectful, when it was no, it was no, he never insisted. So I absolutely don't understand why he's here today." Thierry P., who is not in custody, now lives with his daughter.
Corinne turned to face Gisèle Pelicot: "My thoughts are with her. For her daughter too. I don't understand how a dad could do that to his wife and daughter. When you see that, you think 'wow, that's a lot'." Before leaving the stand, Corinne announced that she was thinking of getting back together with Thierry P.: "We'll see each other again, give it a try, and see if..."
Samira, 44, met Jérôme V. in 2019. Jérôme V. visited the Pelicot home six times between March and June 2020 – there are only four out of 50 co-defendants who made such a high number of visits. Samira sobbed. "We had a normal sex life, daily intercourse. For me, he had no reason to go elsewhere." She repeated this sentence three times.
'From the outset, I've insisted that he's different'
"He didn't hide anything from me, it just took him a while to tell me it wasn't just one time but six. Today, I still don't know exactly what he did. I think he wants to protect me." The acts Jérôme V. is accused of were particularly sordid, which is why he is one of the 18 defendants appearing in custody.
"I've read a lot in the press that they're 'Mr. Everyman', but from the start, I've claimed he's different," said Samira. She suspected Asperger's syndrome, eventually leaning towards "primary alexithymia" (a form of emotional numbness) and "doesn't understand how we could have missed this," without knowing in what way identifying this could have prevented Jérôme V. from raping Gisèle Pelicot six times.
Samira visits him regularly in prison: "I'm not giving up, I've been looking for answers to my questions for three and a half years. I know he's special, I keep digging to find out what made him do it." She also had a comment for the main defendant: "I'm sorry Mr. Pelicot isn't here [he was officially absent from court on Monday for health reasons], I would have liked him to hear that he didn't just destroy his family, he destroyed a huge number of lives alongside it."
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