Monster of Avignon Dominique Pelicot has told a court he raped his former wife in a motorway rest area while on the way back from a holiday because it was his 'fantasy'.

Evil Pelicot, 71, is accused of putting sleeping pills in Gisele Pelicot's meals and then inviting dozens of men he met on a swinging website to rape her while he filmed.

The harrowing case has caused headlines around the world but at the same time his former partner has bravely waived her anonymity to testify against him and the other defendants.

Earlier this week she courageously described how she had suffered the ultimate betrayal at the hands of retired electrician Pelicot, adding that she was speaking for other sex attack victims.

In his first comments after her testimony, Pelicot unashamedly revealed how he had once raped her in a service station as they drove back from the Ile de Re holiday island off France’s Atlantic coast.

Mrs Pelicot's lawyer Stephane Barbonneau told the court in Avignon, Pelicot had driven there to 'offer her' to truckers but he insisted 'no one else was involved' and it was just him.

He said:'It was a fantasy of mine. We were on our way back from the Ile de Re and I stopped at a service station and I raped her.

'No one saw and it was not in full view of anyone else.'

Later, defendant Abdelali Dallal, 47, admitted two counts of raping Mrs Pelicot after being driven there by his then partner who waited outside in her car.

Dallal, who was allowed to give evidence sitting down after suffering a stroke following the 2018 attacks said:'As I speak now, yes there were two rapes.

'But even now to this day I don't know why I went there,' he told the court after describing how he was contacted via the Coco.fr swinging website.

He added how Pelicot had told him not to worry about 'wearing a condom' and that he had admitted he had 'drugged his wife'.

When asked for his thoughts on Dallal's testimony Pelicot said: 'Firstly I would like to say how sorry I am to see him in the condition he is.

'I would also like to say that he is the first to say things as they are. Yes, I told him not to worry about a condom.    

It comes after a former prison warder who guarded the Monster of Avignon while he was in custody became the latest man to give evidence in the shocking rape trial.

Quentin Hennebert, 34, was working at the jail where Pelicot was held after he was arrested in 2020 for upskirting, before then quitting and becoming an ambulance driver.

Hennebert told the court in Avignon he had joined the swinging site Coco.fr - where Pelicot recruited men to abused Mrs Pelicot - to ‘sell ecstasy and MDMA’ adding:‘I’m not proud of myself.'

He said: 'I bought the drugs for 300 Euro and could sell them on for three or four times the price.'

The court heard how Hennebert had visited the Pelicot family home in the village of Mazan in November 2019 while he was working at the prison and ten months before Pelicot was arrested.

He said: 'In my job I get to see judicial papers, investigative stuff from the police and I saw Pelicot's name come up.

'I made the connection with what had happened, and I thought sooner or later the police would come to my door. I haven't really been at peace since I saw the name.'

At this point the prosecutor interrupted and asked:'So you were at peace when you left the Pelicot home?'

Hennebert who has admitted rape, replied: 'When I got into my car afterwards, I realised I had made a big mistake, and I just wanted to wipe it from my memory.'

Before the trial Mrs Pelicot’s lawyer, Stephane Barbonneau, said:’She is an exceptional woman and we heard from her just how determined she is to make her story heard.

‘Every day of this trial we see just how deep a problem there is with society and what she wants to do is make sure that all victims are not forgotten.

‘She doesn’t expect anything from the individuals on trial and she cannot accept their excuses.’

He added that the line of defence from some of the accused that it was ‘accidental rape’ was ‘inaudible to society.’