Gisèle Pelicot rape trial newest: Security guard who caught Dominique says he noticed ‘fear in his eyes’

The security guard who caught Dominique Pelicot upskirting women at a supermarket, which led to the discovery of his heinous crimes, has recalled the “terror” in his eyes.

Thibaut Rey, 38, had been working at the LeClerc shopping centre on 12 September 2020 when his colleague radioed him to say that Pelicot was acting suspiciously on the shop floor. He realised that the serial rapist had positioned his mobile phone to slyly take pictures of women’s underwear, and confronted him.

“We saw him do this to three women, and he was obviously pretty good at it. It didn’t look like the first time he had done it,” he told the Daily Mail.

After a short while, M.Rey confronted Pelicot as he was filming a woman, grabbed his phone and held him until police came to make their arrest.

“I told her: ‘If you don’t press charges, he will just go home and do this again.’ I was thinking of my mother and sister, who shop here, so it got a bit personal,” he said. “Pelicot didn’t resist. He froze with terror. I saw the fear in his eyes.”

Pelicot’s wife Gisèle, who was drugged repeatedly while her husband allowed other men to rape her, has met with M.Rey to thank him, and the guard has now been awarded France’s highest commendation, the Legion d’Honneur.

“My mother tells me every morning that I’m a hero, but for me the only satisfaction is that Madame Pelicot’s Calvary has come to an end, and that I may have helped to stop it,” he reflects.

Sitting across a courtroom from the husband who drugged and raped her for a decade, along with the 50 other men he invited to join in the attacks, Gisèle Pelicot was the epitome of dignity.

After bravely choosing to waive her right to anonymity, the grandmother has looked each of her rapists in the eye during a gruelling three-month public trial which horrified the world.

The 72-year-old’s remarkable courage in the face of unfathomable abuse and her simple message – that she and other victims of sexual crimes have no reason to feel ashamed – has inspired conversations about rape culture across the globe as she became a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence.

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All of Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants were also found guilty of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, while their victim, Gisèle Pelicot, sat in the packed courtroom to hear the sentencing, having waived her right to anonymity.

Gisèle, 72, has become a symbol of female courage and resilience during the three-month trial and crowds of supporters outside the courthouse in the southern city of Avignon cheered as she appeared after the verdicts had been read out.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has praised Gisèle Pélicot for her dignity and courage, and thanked her following her husband’s trial, which has shocked the world.

In a post on social media, he wrote: “Thank you Gisèle Pélicot.

“For this word of justice in the name of which you faced the ordeal with your head held high. For women, who forever have a scout to speak and fight for.

“For all of us, because your dignity and your courage have moved and inspired France and the world.”

Gisèle Pelicot will change the world, the UK’s minister for stopping violence against women and girls has said.

Speaking to The Mirror, Jess Phillips said the 72-year-old deserved “every award” after bravely waiving her anonymity to expose her husband’s crimes.

“The Gisèle Pelicot court case has made the world stand still with horror and respect for her,” she said.

“I think that Gisèle Pelicot deserves every award that could possibly ever be given to her, not because of just her bravery, but because I think her story is going to change the world.”

“Absolutely we will take learnings from the Gisèle Pelicot case. I imagine that’s the same around the world.”

The former French conscript was among 47 men, including Ms Pelicot’s former husband Dominique Pelicot, convicted of rape at a packed French courthouse on Thursday.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has commended the “dignity” of Gisèle Pelicot.

“How much dignity. Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot. Let shame change sides,” he said in a post on X.

Supporters shouted, “Thank you Gisèle” and “Bravo Gisele” as she exited the court. Others applauded and ululated.

It was a free chat site with a simple interface allowing users to communicate anonymously.

Pelicot, who was jailed for 20 years on Thursday, co-ordinated his abuse by finding many of the men who raped his wife on the illicit chat site, and then through the platform was able to conceal his crimes.

Inside a packed Vaucluse criminal courtroom in Avignon, 47 men, including Pelicot, were convicted of rape. Two others were found guilty of attempted rape, and another two guilty of sexual assault.

Alexander Butler reports: