The story contains some harrowing details.
A man is on trial in France for repeatedly drugging, raping and arranging for dozens of other men to rape her.
The defendant, Dominique P, 71, is accused of recruiting strangers online for more than a decade to come to his home and sexually assault victims.
Her lawyer said the woman was heavily sedated and did not realize she was being abused again.
The scale and severity of the case shocked France.
Police confirmed that at least 92 rapes were committed by 72 men. Fifty people have been identified and charged and are on trial alongside their husbands.
The victim, now 72, only learned of the abuse in 2020 after being notified by police.
Her lawyer Antoine Camus said the trial would be “a terrible ordeal” for her because it would be the first time she would see video evidence of the abuse.
“She will experience for the first time the rape she has suffered in more than ten years,” he told AFP.
In September 2020, Dominique P was caught by a security guard secretly filming the skirts of three women in a shopping mall, and was subsequently investigated by the police.
Police later found hundreds of photos and videos of his wife on his computer, in which she appeared to be unconscious.
The images allegedly show dozens of attacks at the couple’s home. The abuse allegedly began in 2011.
Investigators also discovered chat logs on a website where Dominic P allegedly recruited strangers to come to their home and rape his wife.
He admitted to investigators that he gave his wife powerful sedatives, including an anxiety-reducing drug.
He is accused of participating in a rape, filming the rape and encouraging other men to use derogatory language, prosecutors said.
No money allegedly changed hands.
Prosecutors said the alleged rapists ranged in age from 26 to 74 and came from all walks of life, and while most participated once, some participated six times.
Their defense was that they were helping a couple live out their fantasy, but Dominic P told investigators everyone knew his wife had been drugged without her knowledge.
One expert said her state was “closer to coma than sleep.”
Dominique P, who says he was raped when he was nine, is now ready to face “his family and his wife”, his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told AFP.
He was also charged with murder and rape in 1991 (which he denied) and attempted rape in 1999 (which he admitted following a DNA test).
The trial is being held at the Parc des Expositions exhibition center in Avignon, southern France, and is expected to last until December 20.
The woman appeared in court on Monday, the day the trial began, supported by her three children, AFP reported.
Her lawyer Camus said she could have chosen a closed trial, but “that’s what the attackers wanted”.
