• Dominique Pélicot appeared in court in Avignon, France, on Tuesday, September 17, where he admitted the charges against him.
• The 71-year-old is accused of drugging his wife Gisèle and encouraging dozens of men to rape her over the course of nearly a decade.
• “I am a rapist like the others in this room,” he said at the hearing on Tuesday, according to BBC and local media

The Frenchman accused of drugging his wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her over the course of nearly a decade has reportedly admitted the allegations against him.

On Tuesday, September 17, Dominique Pélicot appeared in court in Avignon, France, and said in his first statement: “I am a rapist like the others in this room,” according to the BBC and French media. The Parisian and France 24.

According to the BBC, 15 of the 50 defendants in the trial admitted to the rape, most of them merely claimed to have participated in sexual acts.

“They all knew and cannot claim otherwise,” 71-year-old Dominique told the court, according to the outlet.

“They all knew her condition before they came, they knew everything, they can’t say anything else,” added Dominique, claiming that his wife “didn’t deserve this,” so The Parisian.

“Even if it’s paradoxical, I never viewed my wife as an object, the videos unfortunately show the opposite,” he said, according to the outlet, before asking his family for forgiveness: “I regret what I did, I ask for forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.”

Gisèle’s husband was accused of inviting several men – including firefighters, bricklayers, gardeners, prison guards, soldiers and journalists aged between 26 and 73 – to have sexual intercourse with her while she was unconscious. The Parisian previously reported.

British newspaper The times reported that authorities believe a total of 92 rapes were committed by 83 men over the years.

During his speech in court on Tuesday, Dominique said, according to the BBC, that he was “very happy” with his wife, whom he has been married to for 50 years.

“It’s hard for me to listen to this. For 50 years I lived with a man I never thought was capable of this. I trusted him completely,” Gisèle responded, according to the outlet.

Dominique also said, according to the publication, that he “loved (his wife) immensely.” “I still do,” he added.

“I loved her very much for 40 years and very much for 10 years,” Dominique said at the trial, apparently referring to the time he allegedly spent abusing her.

On September 5, Gisèle admitted in court that she had a two-year affair with a friend after she and Dominique had been married for 14 years, a British newspaper reported. The Telegraph.

She said at the time that her husband “reacted very badly,” according to the outlet, adding that she “has only ever had two men in her bed.”

During the hearing on Tuesday, Dominique said he considered suicide after learning about the affair, according to the BBC.

As PEOPLE previously reported, Gisèle was unaware of the abuse before police discovered thousands of images and videos on Dominique’s computer in 2020. The discovery came amid allegations that he filmed three women up their skirts in a supermarket, The times reported. The abuse by Ms. Pélicot is said to date back to 2011.

Dominique’s court appearance on Tuesday comes after he was hospitalized for health issues a week earlier on Tuesday, September 10, the day he was originally scheduled to be cross-examined for the first time.

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During the last hearing, Dominique was also questioned by Stéphane Babonneau, one of his wife’s lawyers, about why he did not stop the abuse when she was simultaneously suffering from memory loss and was “convinced” she had Alzheimer’s.

“I tried to stop, but my addiction was stronger, the cravings grew,” he said, according to the BBC. “I tried to reassure her, I betrayed her trust. I should have stopped sooner, in fact I should never have started.”

British newspaper The Guardian reported that Dominique spoke about his traumatic childhood during the trial, claiming, for example, that he was raped by a nurse in a hospital at the age of nine and that he was forced to witness and participate in a gang rape of a woman at the age of 14.