Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband, imprisoned for raping and drugging her, now caught up in other cases

This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Gisèle Pelicot, left, and her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, right, during his trial at the courthouse in Avignon, southern France, on Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Valentin Pasquier, File)

NANTERRE, France — Dominique Pelicot, the convicted rapist who horrified France by drugging his then wife so other men could rape her, was questioned Thursday about other cases of rape and murder that he’s suspected in.

Pelicot is serving a 20-year prison term after he was found guilty in December for the horrific sexual abuse of his now ex-wife, Gisele Pelicot.

His lawyer told The Associated Press that he now faces renewed questioning by an investigating magistrate who specializes in so-called cold cases -- those that have proved particularly hard to resolve.

The rape and murder cases date back to the 1990s. One involves Sophie Narme, a property agent who was killed in Paris on Dec. 4, 1991. His lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, said Dominique Pelicot denies any involvement in the killing.

The other is the attempted armed rape of another property agent in the Paris suburb of Villeparisis on May 11, 1999. In that case, Pelicot acknowledges that he met the woman and tried to undress her but denies attempted rape, his lawyer said.

Dominique Pelicot has been under formal investigation for both of those crimes since October 2022 -- a legal status meaning that investigators believe there is an accumulation of serious evidence against him.

Victims' lawyer says cases tied in multiple ways

Lawyer Florence Rault, who represents Narme’s family and the woman subjected to the rape attempt, said an array of similarities between the 1991 and 1999 cases suggested the perpetrator might be the same in both.

“One has to remain cautious. Perhaps someone else committed the crime on Sophie Narme. But there are such similarities in the mode of operation, in the way the victims were approached -- and the victims are so identical, too -- that one can legitimately ask many questions,” Rault said on RTL radio.

The two cases were grouped together into one investigation in September 2022 that was taken over by the specialized unit for cold cases and serial crimes. It works out of the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

But Pelicot’s lawyer says the cases are different

Speaking on her way into Dominique Pelicot’s hearing with the investigating magistrate at the Nanterre cold-case unit, Zavarro said he plans to cooperate. She noted that he had previously been questioned in 2023 and had acknowledged having been in contact with the property agent in the 1999 case, but not with Sophie Narme.

“He has always said that he never met Sophie Narme,” Zavarro said.

Zavarro said Dominique Pelicot has acknowledged to investigators that he met the other property agent. The lawyer said police found traces of his DNA at the scene of their meeting.

“He acknowledged having been in contact with this young woman. His DNA is there, so there’s no issue there. He acknowledged having had an altercation with her, having tried to undress her, but with intentions different from attempted rape,” she said.

Pelicot is now in isolation

Pelicot’s lawyer sought to separate the current investigation from what he did to his then-wife.

“Let’s remember ... he benefits from the presumption of innocence,” Zavarro said. “Let’s not make him into a guilty party ahead of time.”

She described his conditions in solitary confinement, and said he has not been allowed visitors since 2020. “It’s an isolation measure that was imposed on him, and that he lives with every day. He is not complaining -- he knows it was imposed on him based on the nature of the facts.”

Cases predate drugging and raping of Gisele Pelicot

The rape and murder cases occurred more than 10 years before the drugging and rapes of Gisele Pelicot for which Pelicot and 50 other men were convicted -- a nearly decade-long stretch of sexual abuse from 2011. He knocked her unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs and invited other men he met online to rape her.

Gisele Pelicot became a hero to many in France and beyond for courageously demanding that the men’s trial be held in open court.

The evidence included stomach-churning homemade videos of the abuse that Dominique Pelicot filmed in the couple’s retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere. Police subsequently found more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked “abuse,” “her rapists,” “night alone” and other titles.

John Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France.

Nicolas Garriga and John Leicester, The Associated Press