JAN MOIR: Gisele Pelicot is the heroine of her life, NOT the victim.

Gisele Pelicot took to the stand in an Avignon court this week, finally giving evidence in the case against her husband.

And also, of course, against the dozens of men Dominique Pelicot invited to their home to rape her after he had secretly administered drugs which rendered her unconscious.

Madame Pelicot could have insisted the horrifying details were kept from the public and that the films and images her husband captured and kept, grisly trophies of his utter depravity, were never shown in court.

She could have kept her anonymity, so that no one knew the nine years of abuse that had been wreaked upon her body, her personal dignity – and her soul.

If she had, no woman would have blamed her. Revealing such intimate and potentially degrading exploitation carries its own weight of additional distress.

However, she decided upon another course. She decided to be open and upfront, to confront and defy her former husband and her alleged abusers instead of being cowed by their degeneracy.

She said this week: ‘I wanted all woman victims of rape – not just when they have been drugged, rape exists at all levels – I want those woman to say, Madame Pelicot did it, we can do it too. When you’re raped there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them.’

So she turned to the light, instead of staying in the darkness. And in doing so, she focused attention on the wretched men involved, rather than allowing herself to be further corroded by their behaviour. ‘Shame must change sides,’ she said.

As this case progresses, my admiration for this 72-year-old grandmother and her continued bravery in the face of such an ordeal is immeasurable. If you want to see real courage, here it is in all its raw glory, as Madame Pelicot walks into court every morning, her head held high.

She looks elegant and confident, as if she were about to chair a town council meeting instead of confronting the unimaginable truth of her life.

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Which is that between 2011 and 2020, as she navigated her 60s, her beloved husband organised dozens of men to rape her over 100 times while she was comatose, face-down on the marital bed.

‘I’ve been told I’m brave. This isn’t being brave – this is having the will and determination to change society,’ she said, this former logistics manager whose ordeal has captured headlines around the world.

She says that she is destroyed, while her life as she knew it has been devastated – and how could it be anything else, after such inconceivable betrayal? Not just from the ‘perfect husband’ she loved, but also from the men involved, most of whom now claim they thought they were taking part in a kinky sex game. Or that, as the husband had consented, they believed they didn’t have to seek consent from the unconscious wife.

As the facts in the case continue to spill out, how one despairs of humanity. In addition to accusations against the husband, 50 men aged between 26 and 74 are on trial. Not one of them thought twice about what they were doing and most of them lived within a 37-mile radius of the Pelicots’ home in Mazan, a pretty Provencal village surrounded by vineyards and orchards, with a herb market each Monday.

It is staggering that Monsieur Pelicot didn’t have to look very far for willing volunteers; they were hiding in plain sight in the neighbourhood. They include a soldier, a nurse, a journalist and a prison warden along with sundry lorry drivers and farm workers.

If found guilty, they each face up to 20 years in prison. In marked contrast to Madame Pelicot’s courage, their self-pitying court statements reveal their excuses and justifications.

Cyrille said he did it because his partner had gone on holiday, and he needed sex. Jean Pierre thought it was so great he did the same to his own wife and invited Monsieur Pelicot around to join in.

Fabien said he wasn’t guilty because he is not interested in anyone being unconscious; he likes to hear women scream during sex. Andy went because his brothers hadn’t invited him to their New Year’s Eve party.

Simone the builder lived on the next street and is the only alleged rapist Madame Pelicot recognised when she was shown video evidence. Dominique went six times after Pelicot sent him a video of his wife taken without her knowledge as she came out of the shower.

As every detail comes out, it just gets worse and worse and worse.

Yet Gisele Pelicot has somehow found the inner strength to declare to the court and to the world that the degradation is not hers, it is theirs. All of it. All of the shame and disgust, the culpability, and the disgrace – it is their burden to shoulder alone. And you have to wonder, as they undressed in the kitchen and queued to take their turn, where was the morality from these men? Not a shred of it ever surfaced.

Our reporter in court noted that as she started speaking from the witness box, her ex-husband ‘shifted uncomfortably in his seat’ – as well he might. His betrayal of her and their 50-year marriage is profound, yet his wife is resolute.

Against colossal odds, she has cast herself as the heroine of her own life, not the victim. I don’t know where she finds the courage to face these monsters in court – one of whom petulantly told her: ‘It’s your husband you should be angry with, not me’ – but it comes from a deep, deep place.

For she is doing this for all abused women. She is doing it for all of us, but let us hope she is doing it for herself, too. And that she will find justice and a scrap of comfort at the eventual verdicts.

Each morning supporters applaud as she enters court – but I hope she can also feel the warm wind of admiration and gratitude from women across the world, too. This case is far from over, but brave Madame Pelicot has already achieved a great deal.

Lourdes has bags of confidence

Yes, I am worried about available career prospects for Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon. Really worried! Two years ago she became a singer, but her record wasn’t a success and quelle surprise, said absolutely no one.

How about an acting career, darling? ‘I think it’s about finding a role that wouldn’t be too far off from who I am already,’ she said recently.

Anyone got a script starring a micro-talent with a huge ego and talon manicure?

Meanwhile, this model-choreographer-dancer-singer-dud has just signed a new modelling contract with designer Marc Jacobs. Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it. Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it... or is there? Lourdes seems to think so.

‘I want to create a world in which models have more agency over what they’re doing, and they’re not just silent clothing racks,’ she said this week. ‘That’s the age that we’re coming in to in the fashion world. Models as personalities and artists.’

Please no, anything but that! Fair enough that pouting Lourdes wants to be a model, but spare us from her burbling pensées on Important Issues of The Day.

Although she does have an intriguing take on nepo- babies. ‘My mom and my father raised me to be so much smarter than that,’ says the 28-year-old handbag model.

If police can’t pursue violent criminals then we all suffer

Chris Kaba was a notorious and feared gangster, a gun-toting drill rapper who once had a court order for being violent to his pregnant girlfriend.

A vicious career criminal, he had been involved in at least two shootings.

Six days before he was shot dead by police marksman Martyn Blake, he shot a gang rival twice in the legs in a London nightclub.

Yet still there are those who persist in portraying him as a martyr instead of a monster. These include London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who likes to affectionately call him ‘Chris’ as if he were a cuddly pal.

And Labour MP Kim Johnson, who has accused the media of ‘using racist gang tropes to justify the killing’. What an insult. The truth is that Kaba chose to become a violent gang member. He chose to ram armed police officers with a car after they told him to stop. And it is not racist for the media or anyone else to point this out.

I also put the BBC in the dock, for persistently and pointedly describing Kaba as ‘unarmed’, with all the silent accusation that suggests. Worst of all were those moo-faced protesters, almost exclusively middle-class white women, who protested outside the court during Blake’s trial, exultant and thrilled by their misplaced liberal piety.

What fools they all are, chanting ‘no justice, no peace’ and holding aloft Black Lives Matter placards.

Well, they didn’t matter to Chris Kaba. Perhaps his supporters should now opt for a period of dignified silence. We should be glad that officer Blake has been fully exonerated in court and his actions officially justified. Bless him for being brave and diligent in his duty.

Violent assault in society cannot be tolerated, especially on police officers. And congratulations to the jury, who did not bend to political concerns or the pestilence of wokism when delivering their verdict.

If British police officers do not have the confidence to pursue dangerous criminals on our behalf, and the support of society when they do, then we all suffer.

We’re still loving Liam

Bad enough that at the age of 72, Liam Neeson says he is retiring from action films.

Even worse is the news that the still-handsome star has also given up on romance.

‘I’m done with dating,’ says the Irish hunk.

What? I feel this is terribly unfair on ageing females everywhere, especially me.

Can’t newly appointed Government Menopause Employment Ambassador Mariella Frostrup do something? Like put him on prescription?

At the very least.

Mike Tindall has written some sort of rugby book – but with an obligatory chapter on his royal connections. It’s a bit rude of him, but considering the damage done to the monarchy by the opportunistic Sussexes, his effort is but a raindrop in the storm of scandal.

Still, as a commoner entering The Firm, how interesting to note that his experience was wholly positive – unlike some people we could mention. The plain-spoken Yorkshireman reveals that he was accepted ‘completely’ from the beginning: ‘Believe it or not, marrying into the Royal Family was pretty easy for me. They were always nice to me, and I was always nice to them. Simple really.’

If only others could have followed his lead.

They do things differently in Texas. Loretta Lynn’s grandson Ethan has just put his six-bedroom Dallas mansion on the market for around £5 million. It’s got all the usual Texan trappings – gym, firepit, library, pool. However, best of all is the ‘puppy condo’ – featuring individual apartments for his five lucky dogs, complete with pillows, blankets, a picture window and a television. ‘They are very spoiled,’ said Ethan.

You don’t say.