Gisele Pellico, who became a global symbol of courage during the trial of her ex-husband and dozens of men who raped her while she was unconscious, has described the shock she experienced when police first showed her footage of the crimes, comparing herself to a "rag doll", the British newspaper The Guardian writes today.
In excerpts from her forthcoming memoir, "Anthem to Life," Pelico, 73, describes her shock when police told her what her ex-husband, Dominic, whom she considered a "great man" and with whom she shared her life for 50 years, had been doing.
She writes that her world came crashing down on November 2, 2020, when she first learned that her then-husband had drugged and raped her, and invited unknown men to rape her, according to excerpts published by the newspaper "Mond" from the French version of the book, which will be simultaneously published worldwide in 22 languages next week.
Dominik Pelico was summoned to the police for questioning after supermarket security caught him secretly filming women up their skirts.
Giselle Pellicault followed him to the police station and was completely unprepared for the shocking announcement made by police officer Laurent Perret. He told her: "I'm going to show you photos and footage that you won't like. That's you in this photo."
Peliko said she didn't believe she was a motionless woman lying on a bed.
"I didn't recognize the people. Not even this woman. Her cheek was so limp. Her mouth so loose. She was like a rag doll. My brain stopped working in Deputy Police Sergeant Pere's office," she writes in the book.
Gisele Pelico became internationally famous last year when she waived her right to anonymity in a trial that shocked the world.
For almost a decade, Dominique Pellicault chopped up sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs into her mashed potatoes, coffee or ice cream, then invited dozens of men to rape her in the village of Mazan, in southeastern France, where the couple had retired. She was in a coma-like state. A total of 51 men were found guilty of rape or sexual assault.
In excerpts from the book, Peliko describes his decision to make the trial public.
She said that if the trial had been held behind closed doors, as is usually the case in such cases, it would have protected her abusers and left her alone with them in the courtroom, "hostage to their gazes, their lies, their cowardice and their contempt."
She wrote: "No one would know what they did to me. No journalist would be there to write their names next to their crimes… And above all, no woman would be able to walk into a courtroom and sit down to feel less alone."
She said that if she were 20 years younger: "Maybe I shouldn't have dared to refuse a trial behind closed doors. I would have been afraid of the looks. Those damned looks that a woman of my generation has always had to deal with, those damned looks that make you hesitate between pants and a dress in the morning, that follow you or ignore you, flatter you and shame you. Those damned looks that are supposed to tell you who you are, how much you're worth, and then leave you as you get older."
The publication of Pelliceau's book, which she co-authored with French writer Judith Perignon, is considered a major publishing event, as it is being released simultaneously worldwide on February 17, according to The Guardian.
British actress Emma Thompson will narrate the English-language audiobook. In a post on social media, Thompson said the "absolutely extraordinary" story is "difficult to read aloud" but inspires "courage and compassion, but crucially, it demands change," according to the Guardian.
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