Gisèle Pelicot

I told myself that my life was in ruins, that I had nothing left apart from my children.

It was a descent into hell, for me but also for them.

Our family was totally destroyed.

We were crushed by the horror.

You were actually angry with yourself that you hadn't noticed anything in the nine years at least that he was drugging you with his own anxiety and insomnia medication, poisoning your glass of wine or your food in the evening.

Why were you angry with yourself?

Because I didn't realise anything.

I saw nothing.

I think it was right at the beginning when he started drugging me, in fact.

I didn't remember what I'd done the day before, so I said to him, you're not drugging me by any chance.

And when I saw him break down in tears, I immediately thought there might be something wrong because I have an excellent memory.

And there I couldn't remember at all what I'd done the day before.

You made the remarkable decision to let the world know who you are, to waive your legal right to anonymity, which meant the trial of all these men would be opened up to the public and the media and everyone would know who you were.

Why did you choose to do that?

When I decided against a closed hearing, I wanted the shame to shift to the other side.

I'd carried that shame for more than four years.

That self-inflicted pain, I felt, meant victims were being punished twice, and I thought that if I was able to overcome it, all victims could do it too.

Shame must be carried by the accused, not the victims.

Monsieur Pellico was given the maximum jail sentence for what he did to you, 20 years in jail.

Will you ever see him again?