Stéphane Babonneau had to watch thousands of videos of Gisèle Pelicot being raped, before disclosing their horror to her. He explains how she found the courage to cope – and to change the world for other survivors
When the lawyer Stéphane Babonneau took on what would become the most horrific case of his career, he faced a dilemma. He knew his client Gisèle Pelicot had to be told details of the hundreds of rapes her husband had subjected her to while she was unconscious over the course of almosta decade, but how could he possibly do so without causing her even more harm?
By 2022, when Babonneau took the case, Gisèle knew that her husband, Dominique, had drugged her and invited strangers he met online into their home to assault her, but she had no idea of the specifics. Babonneau would find out after watching many of the 20,000 videos and photographs Gisèle’s husband had made over the years. “Everyone was extremely worried she could have a nervous breakdown,” Babonneau says. “What would happen when she was faced with the full truth and scale of what was done to her?”
The Scottish comedian received two Baftas last month, just after the death of her mother. She discusses secrets, sadness, success and how comedy sustains her
Ashley Storrie is describing her “massively surreal” experience at last month’s Bafta Scotland awards. There she was, standing in the spotlight, holding the two statuettes she had just picked up. “And all anyone can say is: ‘Sorry for your loss.’”
I had long resisted spending days in the cold and wet of north-east Scotland. Then I realised it offered the peace and quiet I needed most
In August 2020, a doctor said two words to me that have rattled around in my head ever since: “bipolar” and “disorder”. I was lucky. I wasn’t sectioned and no one, except me, had really been concerned about my behaviour. The doctor didn’t seem too worried, so neither was I. Off I went, unmedicated, with a sense of relief at having the great mystery of my mental health revealed.
For the next eight months, I persevered in my job and with a relationship that left me a guilt-ridden, anxious, isolated mess. By May 2021, my family decided it was time to evacuate me from London for a week of fishing on the River Findhorn in north-east Scotland. For years, they had dragged me along on fishing trips until I was old enough to resist. This meant days of tangled lines, grey skies, wind, rain, mud and tears. It meant sitting on the bank, cold and bored, being handed rods to reel in fish, struggling to cast.
Transition officials sign agreement after weeks-long delay as teams of investigators ready to process clearances
Donald Trump’s transition team on Tuesday signed an agreement to allow the US justice department conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees, after a weeks-long delay.
The step lets transition aides and future administration staffers of the Republican president-elect obtain security clearances before he is inaugurated on January 20 to access classified information about government programs, an essential step for a smooth transition of power. It also allows those nominees who are up for confirmation by the US Senate to face the background checks lawmakers want before voting on them.
Van belonging to popular indie group reportedly ransacked by thief waving gun outside Starbucks in Vallejo
The British band Sports Team were robbed at gunpoint Tuesday while on the US leg of their tour outside San Francisco, the group have said.
According to a statement provided by the six-member group, a thief stole stage equipment, laptops, passports, personal items and other valuables while the band stopped for breakfast at a Starbucks in Vallejo, California, at 8.45am local time. In the store, a passerby reportedly alerted the band that someone was ransacking their tour van. When band members attempted to intervene, the perpetrator brandished a gun, they said.
Coroner says evidence suggests Thomas Kingston, who was married to Lady Gabriella, had a ‘lack of suicidal intent’
The son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent killed himself after suffering adverse side-effects from antidepressants prescribed by a Buckingham Palace doctor, an inquest has found.
Thomas Kingston, 45, whose marriage to Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019 was attended by the late Queen, died from a self-inflicted wound, the senior coroner for Gloucestershire concluded.
My father was more thrilled with his present than the times we gave him lovely photos, swanky dinners and a fancy laptop
I waited until I was 15 years old to have my first major disagreement with my physicist dad. We were living in India, and I had just been elected (note, not appointed) captain of my high school. Shortly before I “assumed office”, he was offered a coveted position at an American university. My teenage self was incredulous that he would put his career over my popularity.
My pleas to stay back at boarding school were to no avail. My father made no effort to reassure me that the massive geographical and cultural shift would work out. Instead, he said we were sailing uncharted waters and would have to make the best of our situation. So off we went to freezing Minneapolis where we spent a year before my dad’s reputed lab was invited to move to Pittsburgh. My exasperation was complete.
As grown-ups increasingly embrace the emotional power and visual delights of picture books, here is a list of recommendations to suit every person and occasion
When my friend’s father passed away, we couldn’t find words to adequately convey our sympathy and love. Then I remembered Kelly Canby’s picture book A Leaf Called Greaf, and realised we actually had found the right words – they were in Canby’s book. Picture books are good like that.
A Leaf Called Greaf is about a lonely bear who finds a “beguiling” green leaf, and with it, comfort and companionship. Greaf (short for “green leaf”) changes with the seasons and eventually crumbles to pieces; gone but still surrounding Bear. It’s a gentle story with emotive windswept-looking illustrations that hint at the family Bear once had. My friend said the book touched her heart and that, for the first time since her father’s passing, she’d cried happy tears.
Exclusive: With Brazil’s politicians, agribusiness organisations and global traders piling on the pressure, the highly successful 2006 Soy Moratorium is under threat
One of the cornerstones of Amazon rainforest protection – the Soy Moratorium – is under unprecedented pressure from Brazilian agribusiness organisations, politicians, and global trading companies, the Guardian has learned.
Soy is one of the most widely grown crops in Brazil, and posed a huge deforestation threat to the Amazon rainforest until stakeholders voluntarily agreed to impose a moratorium and no longer source it from the region in 2006.
Several climbing-related items which police believe belonged to the trio found, as bad weather will likely delay search efforts until Thursday
Rescue teams looking for three climbers who went missing on New Zealand’s highest mountain have found equipment belonging to the trio, police said, as a second day of searching was paused due to bad weather.
US nationals Kurt Blair, 56, and Carlos Romero, 50, and a Canadian man flew by helicopter on Saturday to a camp on Mount Cook, or Aoraki, with plans to summit the 3,724 metre (12,218 ft) mountain.
While one manager celebrated his first game in charge, another may have endured his last. As Ruud van Nistelrooy prepared to enjoy “a small beer” after this win allowed him to luxuriate in starting his Leicester reign by moving four points clear of the relegation zone, Julen Lopetegui claimed he could not hear his own fans singing: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”
West Ham dominated play but failed to make the most of their many chances. Having spent more than £100m on players in the summer, without seeing any marked improvement in the play or results, the former Wolves manager might privately be relieved to still be in post by the time his previous club visit the London Stadium on Monday.
South Korea’s rightwing president has been forced to back down after he unexpectedly declared martial law only to face unanimous opposition from the national assembly, in the most serious challenge to the country’s democracy since the 1980s.
President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late on Tuesday amid a dispute with opposition parties he accused of pro-North Korean sympathies and anti-state activities.
Clinton scored eighth-minute winner at Bramall Lane
An experimental England side recorded a slender win over next summer’s European Championship hosts Switzerland as Sarina Wiegman gave youth a chance to impress in the Lionesses’ last friendly for at least six months.
The Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton’s early goal proved enough to earn England their second victory in this autumn’s four friendly fixtures, as Wiegman locked her eyes firmly on next summer’s major tournament and her potential squad selection.
Lawyers file paperwork to formally request dismissal after judge in November put sentencing on hold indefinitely
Donald Trump’s lawyers have filed paperwork pushing for dismissal of his Manhattan criminal hush-money case – and have invoked Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter, in their argument.
“Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted’ and ‘treated differently’,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in papers filed on Monday but which were not made public until Tuesday afternoon.
Vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah avoids runoff vote, as win extends Swapo party’s 34-year hold on power
Namibia has elected its first female leader, with Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah declared the winner of last week’s presidential election in a result that will extend the ruling Swapo party’s 34-year hold on power.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, the current vice-president, won with 57% of the vote, according to official results, defying predictions that she might be forced into a runoff. Swapo has ruled the country since its independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
Mashinsky, 59, who led Celsius and was charged last year on seven criminal counts, agrees to plead guilty to two
Alex Mashinsky, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, said on Tuesday he intends to plead guilty to two counts of fraud.
The former CEO, 59, was indicted in July last year on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation charges. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said he misled customers of Celsius to persuade them to invest, and artificially inflated the value of his company’s proprietary crypto token. He pleaded not guilty later that day.
Pleasure and politics collide in Kaur’s work, which invites our curiosity again and again
I wanted Jasleen Kaur to win as soon as I’d seen this year’s prize show. Her work made me come back again, and simply to be there on her gigantic synthetic Axminster carpet.
Kaur invites our curiosity. Pio Abad’s work, mostly made during a residency at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, is similarly rich with detail and stories, but felt illustrational, overdependent on the explanatory wall labels.
Tommy Banks had appealed for the pies bearing his name to be given to people in need
A van that was stolen containing 2,500 pies has been found abandoned and its cargo too damaged to eat.
The Michelin-starred chef Tommy Banks had appealed to thieves to “do the right thing” and give the van’s contents, which also included custard and gravy, to people in need.
3 min: … but VAR are checking it, because Mavropanos might have been playing Vardy onside. This is going to be very tight. In fact, the naked eye suggests this goal will stand. But we await the rulers.
2 min: So, that 0-0 draw … Vardy bursts down the inside-left channel. He’s clear. He reaches the box, opens his body, and slots across Fabianski and into the bottom-right corner. But the flag immediately goes up. Offside.
The competition’s youngest contestant scoops the award for animating everyday objects to reflect the pluralities of identity and community
Jasleen Kaur has won the 2024 Turner prize for her work animating everyday objects to reflect the pluralities of identity and community.
Kaur, 38, the youngest artist on this year’s shortlist, was nominated for her exhibition Alter Altar, at Tramway in Glasgow, which featured a range of sculptures and soundscapes.