Mazan trial: “Dominique manipulated the people around him his whole life” claims his brother Joël, who denounces his lies

Me Antoine Camus, l'un des avocats de Gisèle, dubitatif face à ce témoignage familial. MIDI LIBRE – François Barrère

Le frère aîné du principal accusé devant la cour criminelle du Vaucluse en dresse un portrait peu flatteur, réfutant par ailleurs les éventuels traumatismes sexuels qui auraient marqué la jeunesse de son cadet.

“I don't understand how this boy I knew, loved, and even idolized when he played football could have become this thing, this author of monstrosities” asserts to the criminal court of Vaucluse Joël Pelicot, 76 years old, Dominique's older brother, accused of having raped and had raped dozens of times his drugged wife in their villa in Mazan, near Carpentras.

Retired doctor and former general councilor

In a dark suit, this retired doctor, who was a general councilor in Indre-et-Loire, wears a sharp look at the personality of his four-year-old junior, suspected of a long criminal career. “Dominique was a great manipulator, he manipulated the people around him all his life. When he was little, he was charming, and when he was older he often played the devil's advocate.”

The statement is consistent with the psychiatrists' diagnosis. And it brushes aside many of the episodes cited by the accused to explain his actions. “I absolutely do not believe what Dominique says, about having surprised my parents in an act of sexuality, which is more pornographic than anything else. ”

A cruise leaving from Port-Leucate

The rape by a caregiver, when he was hospitalized as a child in Châteauroux, the gang rape scene in which he was allegedly forced to participate, as a teenager, on a construction site? “I do not give credit to what he says and he never spoke about it." Me Camus, Gisèle Pelicot's lawyer, is surprised.“Some malicious tongues say that this case tarnishes your stature as a local notable?”

“  At 76, my political history is behind me. I practiced medicine for 43 years, I am proud of it and I have no need to hide anything at all.” And he continues. “When he was arrested, I was on a friend's boat off the coast of Finistère. We had left Port-Leucate at the end of September. He was scheduled as a crew member. A week before, he calls saying, I fought with a guy in a parking lot and I'm summoned to the police court. Again a lie."

"You've lost your memory!"

Dominique Pelicot seethes in the dock.“I would like to address the one I knew not long ago, with whom we had a happy childhood and a very unhappy one. We had a rather violent father, who drank a bottle a day. You talk about a certain number of things, but I have the impression that you have lost your memory! And I spent more time with my wife than with you!"

Dominique Pelicot also denies being jealous of his brother's social success. "I never envied his political career, where he burned his heart and wings and took a big fall. The first one who ruined the family was his father, not me." On the family destruction side, Pierre Peyronnet, husband of Caroline, Gisèle and Dominique's daughter, provides a poignant insight.

The photos of Caroline asleep

“Caroline looks strong, but inside, she's a field of ruins” he explains, while admitting to having had “very strong relations with this man”, whom he no longer wants to name. Because of everything he did to Gisèle, and the photos of Caroline, asleep, found on his computer.

“She's wearing lingerie that I don't recognize, and I happen to be the one who does the laundry at home. For me, the question is not whether she was drugged, but why she was.” 

The role of the press and BFMTV

Me Nadia El Bouroumi questions him about his possible professional influence on the case, Pierre Peyronnet being editor-in-chief of the BFMTV morning show. “The entire information has been oriented towards the fact that our clients are monsters, and that their lawyers are monsters!” she yells.

“We make collegial decisions, I am not the head of BFMTV and on each subject on the trial, the defense lawyers have had a say. The individual is sometimes outraged by the defense, the journalist respects it." Mr. Camus stands up. "You are putting the press on trial!" Mr. El Bouroumi replies: "The press is being used by the civil party! The civil parties have been manipulating this trial since the beginning!" Dominique Pelicot concludes, addressing his son-in-law: "I am sorry to have caused you problems in your job."

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