FEARS are growing that a pensioner who allegedly recruited 72 men to rape his wife may have also drugged and sexually assaulted their daughter.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, kept a folder of nude photos of the couple’s only daughter on his laptop, a court heard today.
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The alleged victim, Gisele Pélicot, 72, says her husband spent almost a decade inviting men he met online to sexually assault her.
Dominique, who has been married to his wife for over 50 years, is accused of slipping Lorazepam into her food to knock her out before allowing the acts to happen, the court heard.
The father-of-three is said to have then filmed the horrid attacks over nine years between 2011 and 2020.
Dominique faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
On Tuesday, it emerged that pictures of the couple’s only daughter had been found on Dominique’s laptop after police searched his devices after arresting him.
The images showed Caroline Darian, who was described as almost certainly drugged, with no clothes on in.
Dominique kept all the photos in a folder named “Around my daughter, naked”, officials told the courtroom.
I’m convinced I was drugged, but he’ll never admit it
Caroline Darian
Caroline broke down in tears as Judge Roger Arata began reading out details of the pictures.
She was in the public gallery and had to leave the court building for around 20 minutes before reentering.
Now in her 40s, the daughter has already spoken out against her father saying she is “haunted by the fear” she may have been raped.
In a book about the case called “And I stopped calling you Daddy”, Caroline wrote: “I’m convinced I was drugged, but he’ll never admit it.”
The judge has read out quotes from the book in court already.
Hundreds of images and videos of Gisele – mostly in the foetal position and clearly unconscious – were also discovered, according to the police.
Dominique and 51 other men are all accused of aggravated rape in the trial at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, which is due to last for four months.
The alleged rapists, aged between 21 and 68, include a forklift driver, a fire brigade officer, a company boss, and a journalist.
Some were single, others married or divorced, and some family men.
While most only took part once, some did so up to six times, it has been claimed.
It is said that Pélicot was an alleged multiple rapist who relocated his family from the greater Paris area in 1991 and then established the alleged sex ring.
‘Monster of Avignon’: The case that shocked France
BY Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
FRENCH pensioner Dominique Pélicot is on trial accused of drugging his wife and allowing 72 strangers to rape her.
The 71-year-old allegedly invited the men he met online to assault his wife Gisele Pélicot, 72, after slipping Lorazepam into her food to knock her out.
He is said to have then filmed the horrid attacks over nine years between 2011 and 2020.
After being married for two years since meeting in 1971, the pair went on to have three children together.
When the family moved to Mazan two years later, the horrific campaign of alleged sexual abuse directed by Pélicot is believed to have started in 2011 while they were residing close to Paris.
Cops launched an investigation When a security officer discovered the pensioner secretly recording three women’s skirts in a shopping centre in September 2020.
On his computer, hundreds of images and videos of his wife—mostly in the foetal position and clearly unconscious—were discovered, according to the police.
The pictures allegedly depicted numerous rapes that took place at the couple’s house in Mazan, a 6,000-person hamlet in Provence some 20 miles from Avignon.
Investigators also discovered talks on a website called coco.fr, which the police have since taken down, where he allegedly invited strangers to his house so he could have sex with his wife.
Investigators were then informed by Pélicot that he had given his wife strong tranquillizers, including the anxiety-relieving medication Temesta.
Prosecutors claim that the husband participated in the rapes, recorded them, and used degrading language to encourage the other men.
He described at earlier hearings the many measures he used to keep his wife and family from learning of his terrible activities.
Dominique Pélicot is also accused of a 1991 murder and rape, both of which he denies, and a 1999 attempted rape, which he acknowledged following DNA testing.
Although examinations published in court documents reportedly found that the man had a need to feel ‘all-powerful’ over the female body, experts said the man did not appear to be mentally ill.
The shocking trial is due to last until December 20.
It involved placing advertisements for “partners” on the web forym called “Without Her Knowing”.
According to French outlet Le Point, Pélicot put severe restrictions on all the men he invited to rape his wife.
Thee included: no cigarettes or perfume, neat and clipped nails, and a hot water bath before touching the victim to avoid waking her.
Gisele’s condition “was closer to a coma than to sleep,” due to the alleged drugs she was given, according to an expert.
Asked to confirm his name and address at the start of proceedings, Mr Pélicot said: “My home is prison, you know it”.
Twenty of the 51 accused individuals—including Pélicot—are being held in custody, while the others remain on bail.
Police counted a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom were identified and are being tried alongside the main suspect, a former employee at France‘s power utility company EDF.
Meanwhile, before bravely facing her husband at trial, Gisele was shown the horror videos to prepare her for what would be shown in court.
She waived her right to anonymity “to raise awareness as widely as possible” after her horror ordeal.
Gisele’s lawyer, Antoine Camus, said: “She could have opted for a closed trial, but that’s what her attackers would have wanted.
Still, he said, Gisele’s trial will be “a horrible ordeal” for her.
“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,” Camus said, adding that his client had “no recollection” of the alleged abuse which she only discovered in 2020.
Another of her lawyers said outside court revealed that re-watching footage of her assault was “difficult, for her and for all the family” but “today the trial begins and the process must go ahead”.
They continued: “In terms of her mood, there is already a sense of relief that the trial is public, and that she won’t be in court alone over four months with her attackers.
“So that provides some comfort. She’s also preparing herself, she knows her words will be highly scrutinised, and will lead to questioning by the defence.
“So today she’s getting ready, she wants to express herself, and she will take the time to do so when it is asked of her and we expect that to happen quite rapidly this week.”
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Gisele yesterday told the court how she felt when she discovered the real cause of her physical and mental torment.
She said: “He disgusts me. I feel dirty, defiled, betrayed. It was a tsunami, I was hit by a high-speed train.”
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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.
