"Felt Like I Was Dying": French Woman Says Ex Sold Her To Over 487 Men

A bank manager in France was accused by his former girlfriend of manipulating her for seven years into torture and rape, including by strangers that he found online. Laetitia R, the 42-year-old woman petitioner, said that Guillaume Bucci exerted "psychological control" over her.

Laetitia R. said that Bucci used sadomasochistic sex games to manipulate her from 2015 to 2022. She said that when her ex-partner shared his idea of sadomasochism, she thought of "spanking, being tied up". He also assured her that they would stop if she did not like it.

However, she said that the actions were "pure and simple violence" and that she was in "constant fear" of him releasing the intimate videos if she left him.

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Bucci has admitted to acts like strangulation, burning and acts of bestiality but said that these were "consensual sexual games in the context of their intimate relationship". He said that he did not think he was "hurting" her.

Apart from these acts, he admitted to pressuring Laetitia R. into prostitution. He sold her to "friends, colleagues, and strangers" and asked her to keep a list of the men she had sex with.

"I stopped counting at 487 men, some of whom I had seen up to 10 times," Laetitia R. said during the trial.

The mother of four shared how the torture started "little by little". Bucci first pushed her to sleep with other men, then on Christmas Eve in 2015, he asked her to "offer herself to strangers" on a motorway service station while he would listen to it over the phone.

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"I felt like I was dying inside," Laetitia R. told the courtroom. She now suffers significant disabilities because of the abuse she went through.

Although prosecutors pushed for a life sentence for him to prevent him from "reoffending against another woman", Bucci has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The court ruled that he would be eligible for parole only after he has served at least two-thirds of his jail term.

The landmark Gisele Pelicot case, where her husband was sentenced to 20 years in jail for recruiting strangers to sexually abuse her after drugging her unconscious at home, inspired Laetitia R. to speak up about her case.