Mazan rapes: the incredible legal blunder that allowed Dominique Pelicot to continue his career as a sexual predator

Dominique Pelicot a pu poursuivre son parcours de prédateur sexuel dix ans de plus. MIDI LIBRE

His DNA had matched in 2010 with the blood found on the shoes of a young woman he had tried to rape in 1999 in Seine-et-Marne. But the investigation had resulted in a dismissal, and no follow-up was given at the Meaux judicial court to this connection which would have allowed to put an end to his actions, just before he began to sedate his wife with medication, and to make her the involuntary sex slave of dozens of strangers.

The Mazan rapes, which have resulted in 51 accused being tried since September 2 before the Vaucluse criminal court, would probably never have happened if the judicial system had not completely malfunctioned in 2010. Because that year, two events could have stopped Dominique Pelicot's criminal career.

Arrested with a miniature camera in a pen

On July 30, he was arrested in a shopping center in Collégien (Seine-et-Marne) and a procedure for "capture of indecent images"  was filed by the Noisiel police station: then aged 57, the man was caught filming under the skirts of customers, with a miniature camera hidden in a pen. The investigation was not pursued further, he was fined 100 euros. as part of a criminal composition, and he hides it all from his wife.

“If I had known, maybe I would have gained 10 years of my life” said Gisèle Pelicot on September 5 at the bar of the criminal court of Vaucluse.“I would have been more vigilant, I could perhaps have told myself that he needed to be followed. I think that this is a failure to assist a person in danger.”

The genetic fingerprint file had nevertheless done its job very quickly

 Neither the justice system nor the police had an obligation to inform the suspect's wife of this arrest. But the other hiccup is much more serious.

Also read: Mazan rape case: the perverted retiree from Vaucluse who delivered his wife to rapists is now suspected of murder

Because following this arrest, Dominique Pelicot's DNA was given to the Fnaeg. And the genetic fingerprint file does its job very quickly: a few weeks later, it reports that this profile is identical to the one extracted from the blood found on the shoes of Estella, the young woman who was attacked in 1999 by a client of the real estate agency where she was employed in Villeparisis (Seine-et-Marne).

The information is transmitted to the Meaux judicial court, where nothing happens. No judge is involved in this investigation, which has been closed since a dismissal of charges was rendered in 2001. And Dominique Pelicot's career as a sexual predator will be able to continue for another ten years.