It was something in Dominique Pelicot's swagger, his "élan" - as the French might put it - that immediately struck the psychiatrist as odd. There he stood. A 68-year-old pensioner who had already spent several months inside one of France's most notorious prisons,

A French court found Dominique Pelicot guilty on Thursday of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body in a case that has horrified the world.

A court sentenced Mr. Pelicot to 20 years after he admitted to drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle, for nearly a decade, and inviting strangers to join him. The case has made her a feminist hero.

Gisele Pelicot from France fell prey to an alleged mass rape orchestrated by her then-husband Dominique Pelicot. The ’horrendous crime’ spanned a decade in which 50 co-accused faced trial in Avignon on December 19.

Ex-husband Dominique Pelicot wept as he became one of 51 men convicted in a mass rape and sexual abuse trial involving Gisèle Pelicot, that saw her drugged and sexually assaulted over a number of years. But his children believe the verdicts handed down to the guilty men in the case were too mild, a family member said.

Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years for drugging and raping his wife, and inviting other men to join him in violating her. Most of the other men were also convicted.

Dominique Pelicot, the ex-husband of Gisele Pelicot, was found guilty of aggravated rape. He drugged his wife and recruited other men to rape her.