Monster of Avignon 'accomplice' makes grovelling courtroom apology

A troubled father of four told a court how he had sex with the Monster of Avignon's wife on a table while she was unconscious but later wrote her a letter from prison to say sorry for forcing himself on her.

Fabien Sotton said he only stayed 15 minutes at the Pelicot's family home in Mazan after the woman failed to wake up during his sexual advances.

Sotton 39, told the court he had had a troubled upbringing, had been abused in while in care and had been to prison for theft.

He admitted that he had taken drugs on the day that he met up with Pelicot after meeting him on the internet chat room used by swingers.

Sotton said he had previously indulged in three-somes with a couple where the woman was tied to the bed 'so he could do whatever he liked'.

He said he believed he was taking part in a sex game when he went to the Pelicot's home in Mazan in Provence one night in August 2018.

Sotton discovered Madame Pelicot lying on a mattress on a table when he invited into the chalet late at night.

But he feared that things were not normal when Madame Pelicot failed to react to his sexual advances.

However he failed to stop the rape 'because he was in the moment'.

He told the court: 'I'm not interested in sex where the woman is sleeping, I like to hear the woman scream.

'I didn't think she was asleep, I thought she was going to wake up.'

Judge Roger Arata challenged Sotton, asking him to why he did not stop.

The judge asked: 'Why didn't you stop when the victim didn't react?'

He replied: 'I was too much in the thick of things to notice.

'I was in the excitement of the thing.'

Sotton admitted to the court that the husband, Pelicot, could not give consent to sex on his wife behalf and that an unconscious person cannot give consent.

The defendant said he only learned about Pelicot following his arrest in April 2021 and wrote a letter of apology to Madame Pelicot.

He said: 'I was in jail with another defendant in this trial.

'We heard that he [Pelicot had killed and raped two people in the 1990's. We heard about everything he did.

'I was manipulated by him [Pelicot].

'I regret what I did.

'I thought it was a sex game.'

Turning to Madame Pelicot who was sitting in the court, Sotton said: 'I would like to apologise to you madame. I am sorry I was an accomplice.

'I am truly sorry.'

Sotton is among 50 men who are accused of the aggravated rape of Gisele Pelicot over a ten-year period at her home in

Her husband rendered her unconscious with powerful sedatives and invited strangers that he met on the internet to rape her while he watched and took videos.

The case, dubbed by Pelicot's daughter as the 'worst sex crime for the past 20 years', has horrified France.

The trial continues.