Dominique Pélicot, tried as the main accused in the Mazan rape trial for having drugged, raped and handed over his wife to other attackers, is also indicted in two other cases, including one for murder.
If the Mazan rape case came to light, it was thanks to the arrest of Dominique Pélicot, the main accused who drugged his wife to rape her and deliver her to other men who also abused her, in a completely different case. The man had been caught filming under the skirts of customers in a shopping center in Carpentras in 2020. But the Mazan rape case has, in turn, made it possible to link Dominique Pélicot to two other cases: one dating from 1999 in which he was indicted for “attempted rape with a weapon” and the other, from 1991, in which he was prosecuted for “rape” and “murder”.
It was Dominique Pélicot’s DNA that allowed investigators to demonstrate the septuagenarian’s involvement in the attempted rape case. Filed as part of the investigation into the Mazan rapes, it matched a DNA trace taken at the scene of another investigation: that of the attempted rape of a real estate agent in Seine-et-Marne in 1999. According to the events recounted by the victim, the suspect, now identified as Dominique Pélicot, had gone to the agency pretending to be looking for accommodation and had arranged a viewing arranged at the time by the victim. It was once in the accommodation that the assault began, according to her: she says she was gagged with a cloth soaked in ether and thrown to the ground, on her stomach, by her attacker. Unable to free herself from the suspect’s grip, she said she waited for a moment of inattention to defend herself by headbutting and squeezing the aggressor’s genitals hard enough to hurt him. Enough to gain a few minutes that she said she used to her advantage by locking herself in a room where he could not reach her and waiting for him to leave.
Caught by his DNA, Dominique Pélicot ended up admitting to being the perpetrator of the assault after having denied the facts twice. He was even confronted with the victim in 2023. The latter’s lawyer, Me Florence Rault, remembers this scene as “a manipulator who fears only one thing: being trapped” and “a pure pervert, a textbook case for psychiatry” as she declared to the FigaroDominique Pélicot is not at risk in this case which is time-barred, but investigators are making the connection with another, even older investigation: the rape and murder of Sophie Narme in 1991.
“A significant number of serious and consistent clues”
The rape and murder of Sophie Narme are reminiscent of the assault on the victim in the 1999 case in several respects and lead investigating judge Nathalie Turquey, who is behind the resolution of several cold cases and who has taken over the case, to believe that Dominique Pélicot is a very serious suspect in the murder of Sophie Narme. To the point of justifying an indictment. “In these two cases, there is a significant number of serious and consistent clues: the profile of the victims is identical, the modus operandi is identical, and, finally, Dominique Pelicot was staying in the region at the time of the events” notes Mr. Rault. Sophie Narme was indeed a real estate agent and was assaulted, after being knocked unconscious with ether, by a supposed client during a visit to a home. This murder case appears to be a “confusing copy and paste” with the attempted rape of 1999 in the eyes of the lawyer.
The light still needs to be shed on the murder of Sophie Narme and the investigation is continuing. The cold case unit of the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office, where judge Nathalie Turquey works, assured the Figaro that “the details of the Sophie Narme case are currently being settled”. Dominique Pélicot has always contested the facts through his lawyer, Me Béatrice Zavarro. He remains under investigation and presumed innocent in this case until a court decision is made. Me Florence Rault says she is “convinced that there are other victims” and “hopes that with the media coverage of this case, some will be able to speak out”.