Gisèle Pelicot , 72, waived her legal right to anonymity and said she wanted the trial to be held publicly to alert the public to sexual abuse and drug-induced blackouts. All this happened in... Gisèle Pelicot (center) attends a hearing in an appeal trial filed by one of the 51 people convicted in a mass rape trial, at the courthouse in Nimes, France, Oct. 8, 2025. The first day Gisèle Pelicot walked up the steps of the courthouse in Avignon in September 2024, she was an anonymous retired grandmother. Within weeks, this diminutive 72-year-old - the victim ... Pelicot ’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot , and all but one of his co-defendants were convicted of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly a decade.