- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
French woman says uncovering of mass rape trauma 'saved her life'
A French woman whose husband is accused of enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged told his trial on Thursday that police had saved her by uncovering the crimes.
"The police saved my life by investigating Mister P.'s computer", Gisele P. told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband -- one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial.
Gisele P., now 71, had remained stoic and silent through the three first days of the high-profile case, communicating only through her lawyers.
But she revealed her emotion on the stand on Thursday when she recounted the moment in November 2020 when investigators first showed her the images of a decade of sexual abuse orchestrated and filmed by her husband Dominique P.
"My world is falling apart. For me, everything is falling apart. Everything I have built up over 50 years," Gisele P. said.
"Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me," she said of the pictures, while her husband listened with his head bowed.
"I'm lying motionless on the bed, being raped," added the woman of the "barbaric" footage.
"They treat me like a rag doll," she told a panel of five judges, adding that she had only plucked up the courage to watch the footage in May 2024.
"Don't talk to me about sex scenes. These are rape scenes," she said, stressing that she had never practised swinging or any other form of libertine sex.
Lawyers for some of the defendants questioned on Wednesday whether the couple had had a libertine relationship, or whether it was credible that Gisele P. had noticed nothing for the entire decade of the abuse.
The line of questioning appeared to upset the plaintiff, although she stayed put when her three children briefly left the courtroom in disgust.
"Of course she was offended," said her lawyer, Antoine Camus.
"She wanted to respond. We felt her bobbing up and down behind us, saying, 'I want to answer. I just have to answer' and we told her, 'Tomorrow!'"
Gisele P. has insisted that the trial take place in public so the full facts of the case can emerge.
Nevertheless, there will be "extremely difficult moments" for her as she testifies, said Stephane Babonneau, her other lawyer.
- Detailed records -
Gisele P.'s husband, Dominique, is accused of abusing his wife between 2011 and 2020, drugging her with sleeping pills and then recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her, lead investigator Jeremie Bosse Platiere told the court on Wednesday.
Dominique P. was exposed by chance when he was caught filming up women's skirts in a local supermarket.
On Tuesday, he answered "yes" when asked if he was guilty of the accusations against him.
The 71-year-old father of three documented his actions with meticulous precision on a hard drive with a folder labelled "abuse".
That enabled French police to track down more than 50 men suspected of raping Gisele P. while she was drugged.
A third of them were identified using facial recognition software, Bosse Platiere said.
The senior police chief for the Hautes-Alpes region said he had hand-picked investigators "who had the stomach" to face videos and images of abuse.
Police drew up a list of 72 individuals suspected of abusing Gisele P.
The investigators counted around 200 instances of rape, most of them by Dominique P., and over 90 by strangers enlisted through an adult website.
The assaults took place between July 2011 and October 2020, mainly in the couple's home in Mazan, a village of 6,000 people in the southern region of Provence.
Most of the suspects face up to 20 years in jail for aggravated rape if convicted.
Eighteen of the 51 accused are in custody, including Dominique P.
Thirty-two other defendants are attending the trial as free men.
The last suspect, still at large, will be tried in absentia.
The trial is expected to last four months until December 20 -- "a totally awful ordeal" for Gisele P., Camus said.
"For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes to which she was subjected for 10 years", of which she has "no memory", he told AFP.
siu-ol-sjw-tgb/as/gil
P.Stevenson--AMWN