A trial in France which has shocked the world has heard how a husband using the online monikers “pervert” and “dominator” to recruit men to travel to his house to abuse his wife.

I maintain that, along with the other men here, I am a rapist,' Dominique Pélicot testified. 'They knew everything. They can't say otherwise.'

A man accused of drugging his then-wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her over nearly a decade said in court on Tuesday, "I am a rapist, like everyone else in this courtroom." Dominique Pélicot,

Prosecutors say that, for almost a decade, Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife to rape her, alongside dozens of other men he invited to abuse her.

Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old man accused of drugging his wife to sleep and recruiting dozens of men to abuse her for over 10 years, has admitted to all the charges against him in his first testimony since the trial opened on 2 September.

"I am a rapist," said a Frenchman accused of drugging his wife so that he and dozens of strangers could sexually assault her, his first testimony in a trial that has horrified France.Gisele Pelicot requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.

In a trial that has gripped France and raised awareness about sexual violence in the home and beyond, Dominique Pélicot told the court that he also raped his wife, Gisèle Pélicot, and that the 50 men standing trial alongside him understood exactly what they were doing.