The 72-year-old also praises his ex-wife's "courage" during the trial in southern French Avignon, which has been ongoing since September.
I regret what I did, that I made my family suffer. I ask for their forgiveness, he says.
The prosecution is seeking the maximum sentence - 20 years' imprisonment - for Pelicot, who has been called "the monster from Avignon" and one of France's worst sex offenders ever. He is charged with drugging and raping his wife over a period of ten years, as well as inviting numerous strangers to participate in the assaults. Pelicot has confessed to the crimes.
On Monday, he testified about an "inner shame".
I want to tell my whole family that I love them, he says, and then turns to the five judges in the trial:
So, now you have the rest of my life in your hands.
About 50 suspected perpetrators have been identified and charged based on Pelicot's extensive documentation of the rapes. They are expected to receive their sentences on Thursday, possibly Friday if the case is delayed.
The case has sparked shock and outrage in France and other parts of the world. Gisèle Pelicot, who has since changed her surname, has been hailed as a feminist icon for her decision to hold an open trial and her refusal to be ashamed of what she has been through. When she arrived at the courtroom on Monday, she was met with applause from the public, according to French media.
For several years, Gisèle Pelicot (who has since changed her surname) had strange memory lapses and other health problems and thought she had Alzheimer's.
In 2020, she was informed by the police that her husband Dominique Pelicot, also the father of her three children, had secretly given her large doses of sedatives, raped her, and invited dozens of strangers to their shared home to participate. The crimes had been going on for almost a decade and had been meticulously documented and cataloged by her husband.
The husband was caught more or less by chance in 2020, after he had filmed under women's skirts in a local supermarket. The documentation of the assaults led the police to 50 suspected perpetrators, one of whom is still at large.
Dominique Pelicot had also photographed his daughter and his sons' wives without their knowledge, as well as published nude pictures of them on social media along with pornographic photomontages.
