Gisèle Pelicot has criticised a British judge’s decision not to jail teenage boys who raped two girls and filmed the attack.
The French rape survivor, whose husband repeatedly drugged her unconscious and invited dozens of men to rape her, said she was “deeply shocked” that the two boys had gained their freedom when the victims would “never be able to heal”.
Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, has now referred the non-custodial sentences imposed on the two boys to the Court of Appeal based on the fact that they are “unduly lenient”.
At the weekend, Sir Keir Starmer had backed a review of the sentences and described the case as “appalling”.
The girls were assaulted in November 2024 and January last year by the two boys, both now aged 15, in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. A third boy, now 14, was also convicted of his involvement in the second attack and received a non-custodial sentence.
