The trial of a Frenchman accused of recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife has been adjourned to Monday after the suspect was excused from attending over his deteriorating health, the court said.
Should Dominique Pelicot, 71, be unavailable to attend proceedings for a lengthy period of time, the trial will be postponed to a later date, presiding judge Roger Arata said Thursday.
"If Pelicot appears (Monday), we'll carry on," Arata said. "If he is absent for one, two or three more days, we will extend the suspension."
But if the accused "is unavailable for a lengthy period of time, the trial will be postponed", he said. Pelicot, accused of enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his drugged wife over almost a decade, was on Wednesday allowed to leave court after he turned up looking weak and leaning on a cane, and ordered to undergo a medical examination.
Arata had at first decided that the extraordinary trial should continue even if the main defendant could not attend until Monday.
Pelicot, who has admitted the allegations, was initially due to testify on Tuesday afternoon, but was on Monday excused from court over abdominal pain.
He has been on trial since last week, along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, for alleged involvement in a case that has horrified France.
Most risk up to 20 years in jail for aggravated rape. Gisele Pelicot, his ex-wife who only discovered the abuse in 2020, has requested the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
The cases of four co-defendants had been scheduled for this week, including that of Jean-Pierre M., 63, the only one not to be accused of abusing Gisele Pelicot.
Instead, he has been charged with repeatedly raping his own wife after drugging her, in the presence of Dominique Pelicot who provided the medication.
Arata had already indicated he did not want Jean-Pierre M. to testify without Dominique Pelicot present.