Rape trial in France: “That was the point where everything collapsed for me,” she said in tears

The accused Frenchman, who drugged his wife with sleeping pills for years and offered her to strangers for rape, is in the eyes of his daughter “one of the worst sex offenders of the past 20 years”. “How can you rebuild yourself when you are aware of that?” asked 45-year-old Carolin Darian on Friday in the sensational rape trial in Avignon.

Darian described in court the moment when she learned of her father’s actions through a phone call from her mother. “My mother told me: ‘I was at the police station today. Your father knocked me out so he could rape me with strangers,'” she said. “That was the point where everything fell apart for me,” she said through tears.

“I called my brothers, we were horrified, we cried,” Darian added. She doesn’t wish the pain she felt in that moment on anyone. When the siblings were questioned by police the following day, officers showed their daughter nude photos of herself, in which she initially did not recognize herself. “That’s how I found out that my father had photographed me naked without my knowledge. Why on earth?” she said.

Years of gynecological problems

Darian was convinced that her father had also knocked her unconscious, but his father denied this, unlike the rape of his wife. The daughter wrote a book about her experiences entitled “I’ve Been Heard Calling You Dad.” They also founded a support group for victims of rape after involuntary use of narcotics.

Her mother, Gisèle Pélicot, had described in detail in court the day before how she had suffered from inexplicable memory lapses and gynecological problems for years before she found out how her husband had abused her. This happened when her husband came under the spotlight for taking photos up women’s skirts in a supermarket. During the subsequent house search, investigators found around 4,000 photos and videos of the woman being raped while she was unconscious.

Gisèle Pélicot was raped about 200 times without her knowledge between 2011 and 2020, according to her husband and in 92 cases by strangers. Investigators identified 50 of them, who now have to stand trial alongside the main defendant, Dominique Pélicot. They face prison sentences of up to 20 years.

Gisèle Pélicot had expressly spoken out against a closed trial and agreed to be quoted in the media under her full name. “The shame must change sides,” she declared. “Her children are proud of their mother,” said the lawyers. “The name now stands for a brave person,” she stressed.

The 72-year-old also rejected a fundraising campaign by French TV star Nabilla for her family, which had raised 40,000 euros by Friday. “The ongoing proceedings should not be disrupted,” explained Gisèle Pélicot.