THE gut-wrenching moment the daughter of a man who allegedly orchestrated 72 men to rape his wife was told about her mum’s horrors has been revealed.
Caroline Darian, 46, spoke in court today as she slammed dad Dominique Pélicot for tearing their “perfect” family apart after the sick accusations came to light.
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Mr Pélicot, 71, has been hauled into court this week accused of “aggravated rape” of wife Gisèle Pélicot.
The dad-of-three allegedly drugged Gisèle repeatedly over a nine year period before allowing men he met online to rape her.
He now faces 20 years in prison if convicted.
Brave Caroline took to the stand in the French court today and described her father “one of the greatest sexual predators” of all time.
read more in Dominique Pélicot
She also revealed the shocking moment her mum first told her of the harrowing ordeal.
Caroline said: “On November 2, 2020, at 8:35 p.m. my life literally changed.
“My mother told me, ‘I spent a good part of the day at the police station, your father was drugging me to rape me with strangers’.”
Gisèle was told by cops how she was allegedly drugged unconscious through substances placed in her food before being abused by dozens of men.
She said she doesn’t know how she survived the atrocities allegedly caused by a man who she thought was the love of her life.
After the fateful phone call back in 2020 Caroline says the first thing she did was call her two brothers.
“We were helpless, we cried, we didn’t understand,” she admitted.
The following day the three shocked siblings went down to the police station in Carpentras to speak to cops.
Caroline described David as “white and stoic” before saying their little brother Florian collapsed upon hearing as many as 50 men were believed to have raped their mum.
The number has since increased to 72 after four more years of investigations.
The court case which has rocked France also revealed how Caroline was secretly photographed in the nude by her father, as were her two sisters-in-law while taking a bath.
This was at the same family home in Mazan, some 20 miles from Avignon, where Mr Pélicot had invited the men to rape her wife.
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Caroline is convinced that – like her mother – she was routinely drugged so that her father could sexually assault her.
She 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.
The photos taken of her were in a file entitled “around my daughter, naked”.
‘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.”
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.
The alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.
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:
Women’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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