How brave Gisele Pelicot pieced together horror of what happened to her while unconscious
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Gisèle Pelicot left women around the world in awe of her bravery as she faced the 51 men who secretly abused her for years in court. In 2010, the French mum was looking forward to retiring with her husband of 38 years, their grown up children having flown the nest. She was 57 when she was making her plans to move to a pretty Provencal village, dreaming of walking her French bulldog Lancôme while her other half Dominique Pelicot enjoyed bike rides in the beautiful countryside.
But a decade on and Gisèle's idyllic life started to crumble. She had shed weight, was losing clumps of her hair and experiencing frequent blackouts. The grandmother could barely stay awake and had become extremely anxious, imagining she must be dying.
Gisèle's then-husband sat by her side as she frequented her local doctor's surgery begging for answers, with none forthcoming. It had been 'love at first sight' when she spotted Pelicot in the Seventies and although they faced tough times in their relationship of four decades, friends described the pair as the 'perfect couple'.
No-one knew that Pelicot was the perverted mastermind behind a vile campaign of abuse inflicted on his wife, by him and at least 50 other strangers he lured into their family home. Today, rapist Pelicot was jailed for 20 years for orchestrating a nine year campaign of sexual violence against his wife. A total of 51 men were sentenced alongside him, for charges including aggravated rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. One of the worst offenders in French history, Pelicot has been dubbed the 'Monster of Avignon'.
