The shocking trial of Dominique Pélicot, a French man accused of drugging his wife and orchestrating her rape by multiple men, took a disturbing turn when his daughter, Caroline Darian, testified against him. Darian, 45, bravely took the stand in Avignon court and revealed that she believed she was also a victim of her father’s sickening scheme, labeling him as “the worst sexual predator of the last 20 years.”
The harrowing details of the case emerged as Darian identified herself as the nude, unconscious woman in two pictures found on Pélicot’s computer. Thousands of other images depicted various men, including neighbors, engaging in the brutal abuse of her mother, Gisèle, 72, who was drugged unconscious during the assaults.
Darian’s testimony shed light on the extent of the depravity orchestrated by her father, with the court learning that the images were stored in a file named “Around my daughter, naked,” with a caption that referred to her as “the slut’s daughter.” The crude and dehumanizing nature of the captions left Darian reeling, prompting her to write a book titled “And I Stopped Calling You Daddy” to cope with the trauma.
The revelation of the images in court caused Darian to storm out in distress, further highlighting the emotional toll of the case. She described feeling violated and traumatized, suspecting that she too had been drugged and raped by strangers in a similar manner to her mother.
As the trial unfolded, it became apparent that Pélicot had recruited men through online forums to participate in the rapes, instructing them to leave at the slightest sign of Gisèle waking up. The extent of the abuse was staggering, with officials estimating that Gisèle had been raped at least 92 times by 72 different men, including a fireman, a prison guard, a nurse, and a journalist.
The heinous nature of the crimes has shocked the nation, with Pélicot facing up to 50 years in prison if convicted on rape charges. In a separate case, he has also been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991, as well as an attempted rape in 1999.
The trial continues to unravel the dark and disturbing actions of Pélicot, painting a grim picture of manipulation, abuse, and betrayal within the family. Darian’s courage in speaking out against her father has brought to light the horrors that unfolded behind closed doors, serving as a stark reminder of the need for justice and accountability in cases of such egregious misconduct.
