THE daughter of a French woman who was allegedly drugged by her husband so 72 men could rape her has dubbed her father “one of the greatest sexual predators” of all time.
Caroline Darian, 46, slammed Dominique Pélicot as she took the stand on the fifth day of the rape trial that has rocked France.
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Mr Pélicot has been accused of “aggravated rape” of Gisèle Pélicot, also 71 – and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon.
He allegedly invited the men he met online to assault her wife after spiking her food to knock her out.
Ms Darian today took the stands to reveal her horror of sexual violence by her father.
She told the court: “How do you rebuild yourself from the ashes when your father is undoubtedly one of the greatest sexual predators of recent years?”
more on the shocking case
Ms Darian was herself secretly photographed in the nude by her father, as were her two sisters-in-law while taking a bath, the court heard.
This was at the same family home in Mazan, some 20 miles from Avignon, where Mr Pélicot had invited the men to mass rape her wife.
She is convinced that – like her mother – she was routinely drugged so that her father could sexually assault her.
The photos taken of her were in a file entitled “around my daughter, naked”.
Ms Darian told the court: “[My father] was one person in whom I had total confidence, who I thought had integrity, who respected his daughter, who was proud of her, and who had always encouraged her.
“But then I discovered that in fact, my father had photographed me without my knowledge, naked.”
A tearful Ms Darian revealed how she felt when she saw her nude photographs for the first time.
She said she saw a woman – who she later found was herself – lying on a side all naked.
“I did not recognise myself, but the police officer pointed out a brown spot on her cheek, like mine,” she said.
“There, I discovered myself and I understood that the man who was my father.”
Ms Darian was then followed into the witness box by Céline Pélicot, her sister-in-law.
She said that police had confirmed to her there were nude photos of her in the bath, along with similar images of another sister-in-law.
Ms Pélicot said: “Where will these photos be when I’m dead? These degrading, humiliating shots were taken in the most intimate room.
“Who did [Mr Pélicot] send them to? Where are they? Where will they be in five years, in ten years, when I’m dead?
“Will my children one day come across them? Why did he [Mr Pélicot] look at me like that?”
‘TORTURE CHAMBER’
Police found images on Mr Pélicot’s camera and laptop that showed multiple alleged rapes of his wife between 2011 and 2020.
Ms Pélicot had remained silent during the first three days of the rape trial but took the stands yesterday to speak about the harrowing case.
The brave mum stood tall and faced dozens of men accused of sexually assaulting her while she allegedly lay unconscious.
Ms Pélicot said she does not know how she survived the atrocities that spanned over nine years by her husband who she thought was the love of her life.
She described the bedroom where she was raped as a “torture chamber”.
“I don’t know how I survived … I ask myself how I am standing before you,” she told the court.
The mum even said she could have never “imagined” she was drugged “even for a single second”.
“I lost 10 years of my life. Those are years I will never get back.”
Ms Pelicot revealed she thought of taking her own life, but with the support of her family and children, she gathered the courage to build a new life and identity.
Ms Pélicot could have chosen to stay anonymous and let the trial happen behind closed doors under French laws.
But she decided to come out and speak of the horror she faced as she told the court “no woman should suffer” what she did.
She told the court in a composed manner: “If other women [in France] wake up with no memory, they might remember my testimony.
“No woman should suffer from being drugged and victimised. We must address this scourge”.
The mum also described the moment her daughter found out about the allegations that her husband had drugged her before organising the rapes.
Ms Pélicot said: “When I told my daughter, she screamed like a wild beast. I will never forget this.
‘When I told my sons about this, I don’t think they really understood, they were withdrawn and didn’t react much. I think they were in a state of shock. They said don’t say such silly things.
“That evening, the children rang all the time saying don’t disappear – they were worried I might die.”
HORROR DETAILS
Mr Pélicot was first caught in September 2020, when he was arrested for secretly filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras.
His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of photos and pornographic videos of women, including family members.
It was while in custody that Mr Pélicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, which contained a file called “Abuses”.
It classified the nickname and telephone numbers of attackers, together with some 3,800 photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot being raped, between 2011 and 2020.
The investigators counted around 200 instances of rape, most of them by Ms Pelicot’s husband and more than 90 by strangers.
Investigators drew up a list of 72 suspects besides the husband, and have so far managed to identify 50 of them, aged between 26 and 74.
All those 50 men alongside Mr Pelicot are on trial.
Yesterday the French court heard that in some of the heinous footage, Pélicot allegedly takes turns with three other men to rape his wife in one single incident.
The instances of the horrific abuse sometimes lasted as long as six hours and alleged drugged victim Ms Pélicot could be heard snorting and breathing heavily in clips, the court was told.
The court in Avignon also heard yesterday that Pélicot once accused his wife of infidelity when she discovered she had a sexually transmitted disease.
The alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.
In a separate case, Mr Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991.
He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999 after DNA testing proved a case against him.
The Avignon aggravated rape case continues, and is due to last until December 21.
Fourteen of the other defendants have admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.
How you can get help?
WOMAN’S Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
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