“I would like to start by hailing the courage of my ex-wife” Gisele Pelicot, her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot said in his final statement to the court ahead of the verdict later in the week.

“I regret what I did, making (my family) suffer … I ask them for forgiveness,” he said, asking the family to “accept my apologies”.

In a trial that has shocked the country, Dominique Pelicot, 72, has admitted to drugging his then wife Gisele Pelicot for almost a decade so he and strangers he recruited online could rape her.

Gisele, 72, has become a feminist hero at home and abroad for refusing to be ashamed and standing up to her aggressors in court.

Alongside her ex-husband, 50 other men aged 27 to 74 are on trial, including one who did not abuse her but instead raped his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.

Sitting in the glass defendants’ box, Dominique Pelicot reaffirmed that he had told “the whole truth” since the beginning of the trial on Sept 2 in the southern French city of Avignon.

He also thanked the court for allowing him to remain seated on a special chair because of his fragile state of health, which “could have been interpreted as nonchalance” but which was not, he added.

He added that “I have been called many things” but “I rather intend to be forgotten”, saying he felt an “inner shame”.

“I can tell my whole family that I love them,” he said.

Turning to the five judges who will issue the verdict, he said: “There you go, you have the rest of my life in your hands.”

“We will head to the deliberation chamber and will not leave until we have made our decision,” Roger Arata, the presiding judge, told the court, saying the delivery of the verdict had been scheduled for 8:30am Thursday while cautioning the timing was “theoretical” and it could be postponed to Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

On Nov 25, prosecutors requested the maximum possible sentence – 20 years behind bars – against him for aggravated rape.