It is a question that has underpinned weeks of evidence in the trial of Dominique Pelicot who was today jailed for 20 years for the attacks on his then wife Gisele Pelicot.
A further 50 men were convicted alongside him – the majority for rape – and between them sentenced to more than 400 years in prison.
The court heard distressing details of a decade of abuse, including how Pelicot recruited men and filmed the assaults.
Kerry Daynes, a consultant forensic psychologist, tells Sky News she sees Pelicot as a “career criminal” – rubbishing his defence’s claim that a psychological disorder caused his actions.
What motivates this type of crime?
Pelicot is “somebody who has developed a fetish, in his eyes, for degrading women unbeknownst to them”, Ms Daynes says.
“So whether that’s through voyeurism, upskirting, or the drugging and raping of his wife, this has got to be connected to a need for power and control.
“I think that Giselle understands this and said, ‘No, actually, I refuse to be humiliated. I refuse to be degraded by you, because all of that shame you want me to feel actually belongs to you’.”
Why did Pelicot target his family members?
Ms Daynes says he could have chosen to victimise members of his family, Giselle particularly, because he viewed it as “less risky”.
“If you engage in behaviour that is so disgraceful, so abusive and hideous, and you allow yourself to really acknowledge that, you would break down.
“Therefore it’s imperative for sex offenders to find a psychological way of dealing that […] so they engage in psychological acrobatics.”
Does Pelicot have a split personality?
The claim Pelicot suffers from a split personality is “absolutely ridiculous”, Ms Daynes says.
“It implies that there’s some sort of psychiatric condition underlying this. There’s not. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
“He’s not driven by any kind of psychosis or even major personality dysfunction. He is, quite simply, a sexual deviant who hates women, and wants to abuse them and degrade them.”
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She continued: “Pelicot’s lawyers have said this is a man who has been leading a double life. I agree with that, but he’s not somebody with a split personality. He is simply somebody who is able to compartmentalise.
“This is how sex offenders operate. They’re not monsters lurking in alleyways. They’re not somehow different from the men that we share our lives with.
“They are the men that we share our lives with, and that’s what this case really graphically illustrates.”
