Daughter of man accused of drugging wife raped by 72 men says he is ‘one of the greatest sexual predators’
Caroline Darian also accuses father of secretly photographing her naked as he stands trial accused of aggravated rape of her mother Gisele Pelicot
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The daughter of a Frenchman on trial for drugging his own wife and allowing her to be raped by dozens of men attheir home has called him “one of the greatest sexual predators” of all time.
Caroline Darian, 46, has given evidence at the trial of her father Dominique Pelicot, 71, and 51 other men, who are all accused of the aggravated rape of her mother Gisele Pelicot, 72, and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
“How do you rebuild yourself from the ashes, when your father is undoubtedly one of the greatest sexual predators of recent years?” said Ms Darian, who uses a pen name, told the court in Avignon on the fifth day of the case.
It also emerged on Friday she, herself, was allegedly secretly photographed in the nude by her father, with the images apparently stored in a file entitled “Around my daughter, naked” and showing the 46-year-old asleep.
The Vaucluse Criminal Court also heard there were allegedly similar “degrading, humiliating” pictures of her two sister-in-laws while taking a bath.
Ms Darian also accused her father of drugging her to take the pictures.
This was at the same family home in Mazan, 20 miles from Avignon, where Mr Pelicot is claimed to have invited the men to sexually abuse her mother after contacting them online.
A tearful Ms Darian recalled seeing the two alleged images of herself for the first time. She told the court: “I did not recognise myself, but the police officer pointed out a brown spot on her cheek, like mine.
“There, I discovered myself and I understood that the man who was my father, in whom I had total confidence, who I thought had integrity, who respected his daughter, who was proud of her, who had always encouraged her, I discovered that in fact, my father had photographed me without my knowledge, naked.”
Ms Darian was followed into the witnesses box by her sister-in-law, Celine Pelicot, a mother of three young children.
Celine Pelicot, who is also in her 40s, said police confirmed to her that there were nude photos of her in the bath, along with similar images of another sister-in-law.
“Where will these photos be when I'm dead?” asked Celine Pelicot. “These degrading, humiliating shots were taken in the most intimate room.
“Who did he [Dominique Pelicot] send them to? Where are they? Where will they be in five years, in 10 years, when I'm dead?
“Will my children one day come across them. Why did he [Dominique Pelicot] look at me like that?”
Dominique Pelicot, a retired electrician, remains in custody after being arrested in 2020.
Police found images on his camera and laptop that showed multiple alleged rapes of his wife between 2011 and 2020, the court has heard.
Gisele Pelicot, who has sat in court throughout the five days, has already described the moment her daughter, Caroline, found out about the allegations that her husband had drugged her before organising the rapes.
The 72-year-old 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.”
Gisele Pelicot told crowds outside the French courthouse on Thursday, “We will have to fight until the end,” after detailing the horror of discovering that her former spouse had systematically filmed the alleged rapes while she was unconscious — storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.
She insisted on a public trial and has also waived her right to anonymity, with the hopes her testimony might help spare other women from similar ordeals, after she “was sacrificed on the altar of vice” and left with four sexually transmitted infections.
Mr Pelicot was first arrested in September 2020, when he was suspected of secretly filming up women's skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras.
His devices were searched, and hundreds of photos and pornographic videos of women were allegedly found, including of family members.
Detectives have listed a total of 92 alleged rapes committed by 72 male suspects, 51 of whom have been identified.
The trial continues and is due to last until 21 December.