Featured Image Credit: CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Crime, World News, Parenting, Books
Anish Vij
Topics: Crime, World News, Parenting, Books
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault and rape which some readers may find distressing.
Gisèle Pelicot was drugged and raped by Gisèle's ex husband Dominique Pelicot and dozens of strangers. Her daughter Caroline Darian has also brought rape charges against her father, however, he has always denied sexually assaulting her.
Dominique, from south-eastern France, and 50 others were found guilty of rape and sexual assault against Gisèle, 72, back in December.
He admitted that he would knock her out by putting drugs in her food so himself and strangers he recruited online could rape her on camera. This happened for at least nine years, from July 2011 to October 2020.
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Police raids unearthed his homemade library, documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife.
The collection included more than 20,000 photos and videos that were stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked 'abuse', 'her rapists', 'night alone' and other titles.
Although investigators found 72 different abusers, they were not able to identify them all.
"I am a rapist," the ex husband of 50 years told the court, as he 'acknowledged all the facts [of the case] in their entirety'.
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Dominique's daughter Caroline claims she learnt she was a victim of his sick and inhumane acts after a deleted folder called 'My Daughter Naked' was discovered.
The 46-year-old suspects that she was her dad's 'second victim' after she suffered with constant gynaecological issues over the years, including a vaginal tear that refused to heal.
After she was admitted to psychiatric hospital for 72 hours, she started to journal everything in her life so she could try and figure out what and how her dad was doing what she thinks he did.
"When I came out, I knew that I had to keep writing everything down, otherwise I would never get through it. In those first few days and weeks," she told the Telegraph.
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On her feelings towards her mum after she visited Dominique in prison, she added: “Listen, if she wants to do that in order to close that chapter of her life, that’s up to her.
“I think there is still love there.”
Caroline continued: “Yes, because 50 years together doesn’t get erased just like that.
“And I guess she wants to see if there is any way Dominique is not the monster everyone thinks he is.
“So, I do respect her decision, just as I respect the trajectory she has chosen ever since we found out.”
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In her book 'I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again', she revealed that her mum didn't believe what her then-husband was up to, telling her: "Your father is incapable of such a thing."
“You know what my mum said to me a couple of times in the courtyard outside during the trial? ‘Stop making a spectacle of yourself.’ A spectacle of myself?” Caroline said to the outlet.
“Right there is the difference between her and me.”
Caroline, who no longer speaks to her mum, has filed her own legal case against Dominique with the French courts, with the possibility of taking him to trial.
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He is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.