Repeat Offender on Trial in Avignon Rape Case, Previously Convicted for Assaulting Daughter

Mohamed R. was called to the stand on Monday as part of the trial of the Mazan rapes, a case related to a woman who was drugged by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, and raped by more than 50 men at his request. According to France Bleu, the Moroccan-born defendant is known to the judicial authorities for having been convicted in 1999 for the rape of his underage daughter.

The events took place in 1991 in Mérignac, where Mohamed R. sexually assaulted his daughter, then 14 years old. In 1999, he will be sentenced to five years in prison by the Gironde Assize Court for this crime, which he has never admitted.

Arrested in October 2019, Mohamed is accused of a gang rape on Gisèle Pelicot, which occurred on the night of May 6 to 7, 2019, in a vacation home of the Pelicot family on the Île de Ré. This time, Mohamed eventually admitted the facts, after being confronted with videos proving the rape.

Born in Casablanca, Morocco, Mohamed R. is the father of seven children from three different mothers. He lived in La Rochelle until his arrest. The defendant mentions a difficult childhood marked by the loss of his father when he was only ten years old, and physical violence he would have suffered from his mother. The Avignon criminal court will study his profile.