Associate of Frenchman on trial for mass rape admits to copycat abuse – National [Video]

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A presumed accomplice of a man currently on trial in France for allegedly inviting dozens of men to rape his drugged and unconscious wife over the course of a decade told court Wednesday that he learned how to commit copycat crimes on his own wife under the tutelage of Dominique Pélicot.

Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63, told the French courtroom that Dominique Pélicot acted as a mentor to him after the pair met on a now-defunct website, where Dominique shared images of other men raping Gisèle Pélicot and asked Marechal if he would allow him to rape his wife, Cilia.

Marechal said, at first, he turned down the offer, but eventually relented and worked with Dominique to drug and rape Cilia.

“I regret my actions. I love my wife,” Marechal said in the courtroom in Avignon, in southern France.

“If I had …