THE youngest man accused of raping “Beast of Avignon’s” wife carried out the horror ordeal on the day his first daughter was born, a court heard.
Joan Kwai was just 23 when he assaulted Gisele Pelicot after her sick husband drugged her and called 72 male strangers to rape her over a decade.
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He was among the six other men accused of the mass rape to have taken the stands today in the trial that has rocked France.
The court heard that Kwai, a former French conscript, first went to Mr Pelicot’s house in November 2019, the day his daughter was born.
He went back again for a second time and admitted to having planned a third visit which Mr Pelicot cancelled at the last minute.
He also said he never asked if Ms Pelicot had consented to the sexual activity, before admitting it was a rape and that the victim was unconscious.
more on the shocking case
He said he “recognised the facts, but not the intention”.
Kwai was arrested at the army barracks while he was serving, DailyMail reports.
Prosecutors have described him as a man with “depressive tendencies”.
Dubbed “Beast of Avignon”, Dominique Pélicot has been accused of “aggravated rape” of ex-wife Ms Pélicot – and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon.
He allegedly invited the men he met online to assault her wife after spiking her food to knock her out.
Taking the stands for the first time last week, the sick grandfather admitted to the heinous mass rape of Ms Pélicot that stretched for almost a decade.
Wearing a grey shirt, the French pensioner shuffled into court using a cane to support himself and owned up to his crimes.
He said: “Today, I maintain that, with the obligations we all have, I am a rapist, like everyone in this room. They cannot say otherwise.”
However, as the cross-examination continued, a tearful Mr Pélicot shockingly insisted he “still loves” his ex-wife.
He said: “I loved her well for 40 years and loved her badly for 10 years … I ruined everything, I lost everything. I should never have done that.”
During the trial, psychologists described Mr Pélicot as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who appeared like a normal husband during the day and then drugged his wife so strangers could rape her at night.
Mr Pélicot said of the comments: “I am accused of many things. We are not born perverts, we become them.
“Even if it is paradoxical, I have never considered my wife as an object.”
A report submitted to the court suggested Mr Pélicot displayed a tendency towards “paraphilia” – sexual arousal in atypical situations – and also “somnophilia”– an attraction to unconscious partners.
This made him a “very caring and much-loved husband by day” but “a rapist at night”, psychologist Bruno Daunizeau explained in the report.
The court heard how Mr Pélicot considered himself a “good husband” to the woman he married in 1971 and had three children with.
He said he was “respectful of his wife’s desires and refusals to sex”, but “also had fantasies about swinging” and “got pleasure” in seeing his wife “undergo sexual acts that she normally refused”.
His daughter Caroline Darian, 46, branded him as the “worst sexual predator” as she took the stand on the fifth day of the rape trial.
She told the court: “How do you rebuild yourself from the ashes when your father is undoubtedly one of the greatest sexual predators of recent years?”
Ms Darian was herself secretly photographed in the nude by her father, as were her two sisters-in-law while taking a bath, the court heard.
She is convinced that – like her mother – she was routinely drugged so that her father could sexually assault her.
The photos taken of her were in a file entitled “around my daughter, naked”.
HORROR DETAILS
Mr Pélicot was first caught in September 2020, when he was arrested for secretly filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras.
His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of photos and pornographic videos of women, including family members.
It was while in custody that Mr Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, which contained a file called “Abuses”.
It classified the nickname and telephone numbers of attackers, together with some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020.
The investigators counted around 200 instances of rape, most of them by Ms Pelicot’s husband and more than 90 by strangers.
Investigators drew up a list of 72 suspects besides the husband, and have so far managed to identify 50 of them, aged between 26 and 74.
The French court heard that in some of the heinous footage, Pélicot allegedly takes turns with three other men to rape his wife in one single incident.
In a separate case, Mr Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999 after DNA testing proved a case against him.
The Avignon aggravated rape case continues, and is due to last until December 21.
Fourteen of the other defendants have admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
How you can get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
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