Dominique Pelicot, who was jailed in December for repeatedly drugging and raping his then-wife Gisèle, is a suspect in other cases of rape and murder.
Dominique Pélicot, the convicted French rapist who drugged his then-wife, Gisèle, so that other men could rape her, was questioned on Thursday about other cases of rape and murder in which he is a suspect, according to his lawyer.
The 72-year-old is serving a 20-year prison sentence after he was found guilty in December for repeatedly drugging and raping his now ex-wife.
Pélicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said he now faces renewed questioning by an investigating magistrate who specialises in cold cases — those that have proved particularly difficult to resolve.
The rape and murder cases date back to the 1990s.
One involves Sophie Narme, a property agent who was killed in Paris on 4 December 1991. Pélicot denies any involvement in the killing, according to Zavarro.
The other involves the attempted rape of another property agent in the Paris suburb of Villeparisis on 11 May 1999.
In that case, Pélicot acknowledges that he met the woman — who has not been identified — and tried to undress her but denies attempted rape, his lawyer said.
Pélicot has been under formal investigation for the crimes since October 2022 — meaning that investigators believe there is a stack of serious evidence against him.
The two cases occurred more than 10 years before the drugging and rapes of Gisèle Pélicot for which her former husband and 50 other men were convicted.
During a nearly decade-long stretch of sexual abuse starting in 2011, Dominique Pélicot knocked his then-wife unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs and invited other men he met online to rape her.
The trial spurred a national reckoning about the blight of rape culture in France, while Gisèle Pelicot became a hero to many in the country and beyond for courageously demanding that the men’s trial be held in open court.
Identical victims, similar cases
Florence Rault — a lawyer who represents Narme’s family and the woman subjected to the rape attempt in 1999 — said an array of similarities between the two cases suggested the same perpetrator was involved in both.
“There are such similarities in the mode of operation, in the way the victims were approached — and the victims are so identical, too — that one can legitimately ask many questions,” Rault said on France’s RTL radio.
Zavarro said Pélicot had previously been questioned in October 2023 and had acknowledged having been in contact with the property agent in the 1999 case, but not with Narme.
“He says that he is totally unconnected with the events related to Sophie Narme,” Zavarro said. “He has always said that he never met Sophie Narme.”
Pélicot has acknowledged to investigators that he met the woman who was raped in 1999, according to Zavarro. The lawyer said police found traces of his DNA at the scene of their meeting.
“He acknowledged having had an altercation with her, having tried to undress her, but with intentions different from attempted rape,” she said.
The two cases were grouped together into one investigation in September 2022 that was taken over by France’s specialised unit for cold cases and serial crimes.
Additional sources • AP
