Add Category
WARNING: The details in this story may be distressing to some readers.
The French man accused of drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over nearly a decade, has admitted the various charges he faces and begged his family's forgiveness.
Dominique Pelicot had been due to testify last week in a case that has shocked France, but his appearance was delayed due to health issues.
His lawyers said he was suffering from a kidney stone and urinary infection.
He appeared in court on Tuesday local time with a cane.
"I admit to the charges in their entirety," the 71-year-old was cited as saying by BFM TV, whose reporter was present in the courthouse.
"I am a rapist just like all the others in this room … I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did," French media reported him as saying.
"I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable."
Mr Pelicot faces charges including rape, gang rape and various privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images.
He told the courtroom he had had a difficult upbringing and had been a victim of rape himself.
"One is not born a pervert, one becomes a pervert," he told judges, after recounting, sometimes in tears, being raped by a male nurse in hospital when he was nine-years-old and then being forced to take part in a gang rape at age 14.
His former wife, Gisele Pelicot, 72, who was in the courtroom during his appearance on the stand, also spoke.
"For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined was capable of these acts of rape," Ms Pelicot was reported as saying.
During a break in proceedings, Mr Pelicot's lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told reporters: "All of the facts will be examined with all of the accused, and everyone will form their own opinion."
Prosecutors have said Mr Pelicot, who was initially arrested after trying to film up a woman's skirt, offered sex with his wife on a website called Coco and filmed the abuse.
Investigators found 300 photographs and a video of the acts, according to a court document.
In addition to Mr Pelicot, 50 other men, currently aged 26 to 73, are also on trial on rape charges in the southern city of Avignon.
Some other defendants have said they believed Ms Pelicot was pretending to be asleep and had in fact consented to sex, though Mr Pelicot disputed that assertion in the courtroom on Tuesday.
If found guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in jail.
Ms Pelicot insisted on a public trial to expose her husband and the other men accused of raping her and to shed a light on sexual violence, her lawyers have said.
To many, Ms Pelicot has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France.
On Saturday, people gathered in cities across the country to demonstrate support for her.
Reuters/AP/ABC