Gisèle Pelicot, who survived almost a decade of rape by dozens of men after she was drugged by her ex-husband, has told a French court that she never gave consent for anyone to abuse her while she was in a comatose state and that no victim should ever feel shame.
Addressing the appeal trial on Wednesday of an unemployed builder who has contested his conviction for raping her, she said: “For me, the harm has been done – I will need to rebuild from these ruins and I think I’m on the right road – but what I want to say to others is that I never regretted my decisions, from filing a legal complaint until today. I want to say to victims to never be ashamed of what was imposed on them, because they’re never responsible.”
