These four are the most spectacular cases, not the most representative. Four exceptions, a distinct group among the multitude of men on trial for rape before the Vaucluse criminal court. Of the 50 co-defendants of Dominique Pelicot (charged with recruiting men to rape his wife Gisèle, while drugged) who have taken the stand over the past five weeks, 40 came to the couple's home in Mazan just once. Six others came back a second time. And then there are these four, who came, came and came again. And then again. And then again. And again. Six times in all.

The first of these multi-recidivists – all of whom are in custody – was heard by the court in early October: Jérôme V., who made six visits to the Pelicot's home in southeastern France between March and June 2020, including four while the country was in Covid lockdown. The 46-year-old defendant, who suffers from "sexual addiction," admitted to everything. He knew before the first meeting that Gisèle Pelicot would be drugged without her knowledge, he was aware of the "immoral and illegal nature" of the situation and he is the only one willing to say that this is precisely what turned him on: "Being able to do anything was part of a possible fantasy."

Even if the reality didn't live up to the fantasy, Jérôme V. couldn't help coming back. "Since I went back, part of me found satisfaction." And then Dominique Pelicot stopped contacting him. "Fortunately, because I don't know if I would have been able to say no," admitted this tormented man, eager to explain himself, to express his "shame" and regrets which, unlike those of many of his co-defendants, had not seemed fabricated. "You are disarmingly sincere," said Antoine Camus, Gisèle Pelicot's lawyer.

Hard to deny when you've been to the Pelicot house six times, one would think. Until Dominique D.'s terrible questioning on Wednesday, October 16. This former soldier turned truck driver, born 45 years ago in northern France (the youngest of 16 children placed in foster care at the age of six months), already admitted everything when he was taken into custody: Gisèle Pelicot drugged with Temesta without her knowledge, the precautions taken not to wake her up, the arousal, etc. He registered on Coco.fr, "in search of something new," to compensate for waning sexual relations with his partner. He even revealed to investigators the existence of his first out of six visits to the Pelicot home (between February 2015 and September 2020), of which neither photo nor video exists, which is extremely rare in this mass rape case.

You have 56.05% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.