Over the course of 69 days, a criminal court in southeastern France will hear the disturbing case of 51 men, all from seemingly respectable social backgrounds—firefighters, journalists, craftsmen, retirees, delivery drivers, and prison guards—aged between 30 and 74.
They are on trial from September 2 to December 20 for accepting an invitation from 71-year-old Dominique P. (anonymity is maintained to protect his family) to abuse his wife, whom he had drugged into a comatose state without her knowledge.
The horrifying abuse was facilitated through a chatroom on the Coco.fr dating site, named “Without her knowing,” where Dominique P. recruited the men. In one exchange, he told a man, “You’re like me, you like rape mode.” The chatroom was shut down in June after being linked to multiple criminal cases.
The case came to light on September 12, 2020, when police responded to an incident at a supermarket in Carpentras, where Dominique P. had been caught filming up women’s skirts. A search of his home led to the discovery of a folder on his laptop titled “abuses,” containing over 20,000 photos and videos, meticulously organized by date, first name, or nickname.
The shocking truth came out when Dominique’s wife was informed that since 2011, her husband had been drugging her and allowing dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious. She described her reaction as feeling “disgusted, defiled, and betrayed,” likening the revelation to being hit by a “high-speed train.”
The investigation led to seven waves of arrests, though two suspects died, and some remain unidentified. Investigators found that Dominique P. gave explicit instructions to the men, including not smelling of perfume or tobacco, parking at a nearby school, undressing in the kitchen, and warming their hands on the radiator. In total, 92 rapes between July 2011 and October 2020 have been documented.
