French justice authority finds failings in rapist Dominique Pelicot case

"France's General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) has exposed failings in an investigation into Dominique Pelicot, convicted in a high-profile rape case, for not acting on DNA evidence against him for a dozen years, in a report seen by AFP. Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2024 in a case that shocked the country, after admitting to repeatedly drugging his then-wife Gisele Pelicot and inviting dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious between 2011 and 2020."

"During the trial, it emerged that he had been first apprehended in 2010 in a suburban Paris shopping centre while filming up women's skirts, and had his DNA taken by police. A few months later, he was connected with an attempted rape in the Seine-et-Marne area east of the capital on May 11, 1999. Yet the DNA match was not acted upon by the justice system for more than 12 years."

"The IGJ report seen by AFP this week found that the court investigating the 1999 rape had no receipt of receiving the evidence, which was sent by regular mail. Furthermore, the court at the time was undergoing a structural re-organisation and "loss of documents was sometimes observed", the report said. The IGJ report highlighted "vulnerabilities" and general malfunction in the handling of genetic profiles, prompting a list of recommendations to secure the receipt of reports issued by France's National Automated DNA Database (FNAEG)."

The IGJ exposed procedural failings after DNA evidence linking Dominique Pelicot to a 1999 rape was not acted upon for more than a decade. Pelicot received a 20-year sentence in December 2024 after admitting to drugging his then-wife and inviting men to rape her between 2011 and 2020. Police took his DNA in 2010 after an apprehension for filming up skirts, and a later match connected him to a 1999 attempted rape. A cold case unit opened formal investigations in October 2022. The IGJ found missing receipts for mailed evidence, court reorganisation and document loss, and flagged vulnerabilities in handling genetic profiles, recommending secure receipt procedures for FNAEG reports.

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