AVIGNON, France (AFP) — “I am a rapist,” said a Frenchman accused of drugging his wife so that he and dozens of strangers could sexually assault her, his first testimony in a trial that has horrified France.

Dominique Pelicot, 71, used a cane Tuesday as he slowly entered the courtroom in the southern city of Avignon, where his now ex-wife was present for the painful testimony.

“I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” Pelicot said, referring to the 50 other defendants in the mass trial — men he allegedly recruited online to rape his then-wife Gisele Pelicot.

“They all knew” that he was inviting them to rape her, he said.

But he added: “She did not deserve this.”

Dominique Pelicot is accused of administering anti-anxiety drugs to Gisele over a period of almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020.

He has been charged with raping her while she was unconscious, and recruiting dozens of other men he met online to do the same.

Dominique Pelicot has admitted the charges, but Tuesday was the first time he was speaking at any length since the trial began on September 2.

He spoke of his “difficult” childhood, saying his parents “assaulted each other”.

He briefly mentioned what he described as two “traumatic” episodes, being victim of a rape when he was nine years old and another on a construction site as an apprentice.

“I always carried these traumatising events with me,” he said, his eyes welling up and his voice shaking.

“You’re not born this way, you become it,” he added.

His ex-wife Gisele Pelicot, who obtained a divorce from him last month, remained stoic as he spoke, then she took the stand herself.

“Not a for a single second did I doubt this man,” she said.

Her former husband then asked her and others for forgiveness.

“I am guilty of what I have done. I beg my wife, my children, my grandchildren… to accept my apologies. I ask for forgiveness,” he said.

He also presented his apologies to another woman in the case, whose husband is accused of raping her while heavily sedated after following the same modus operandi.

The main defendant had been excused from hearings for much of last week and did not show up on Monday.

His lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told AFP he was suffering from “a clot in the bladder” and the beginning of a kidney infection.

But a medical exam ordered by the presiding judge found that he was in a fit state to appear in court, avoiding a delay of weeks or even months to the hearings.

Adjustments would be made to the “sequencing of the hearings” and Dominique Pelicot would get “regular rest”, Zavarro said, adding that the health complaints were not an attempt by her client to escapDominique Pelicot’s testimony is expected to be decisive for the 50 other men aged 26 to 74 on trial, four of whose cases are set to be heard in the coming days.

Some of the accused have admitted that he told them he was drugging his then-wife, while others claim they believed they were participating in a swinger couple’s fantasy.

Investigators listed 72 men suspected of having taken part in abusing Gisele Pelicot other than her husband, but only managed to identify 50.

All those 50 are on trial. They include a fireman, a male nurse, a prison guard and a journalist.

Seventeen are in custody, as is Dominique Pelicot, while 32 other defendants are attending the trial as free men.

One co-defendant is being tried in absentia.

Gisele Pelicot requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.

The case has prompted outrage across France, with thousands demonstrating in cities at the weekend to demand an end to rape and support Gisele Pelicot.

“Shame must change sides,” said several posters, echoing Gisele Pelicot’s words that it should be rapists — not their victims — who should be ashamed.

Gisele thanked demonstrators on Monday.

“Thanks to you I have the strength to see this fight through to the end,” she said.