Gisele Pelicot's children speak of their horror as daughter claims she was also abused by father on trial for rape
Gisele Pelicot has attended court, sometimes accompanied by her children Florian (pictured), David and Caroline Darian.
In short:
The children of a French man accused of drugging and raping his wife and their mother have spoken of their horror and grief at the allegations, which he has admitted.
Dominique Pelicot is on trial alongside 49 other men for rape and sexual assault, with his daughter alleging she was also abused.
What's next?
The trial is hearing closing arguments with the defendants to be sentenced in December.
WARNING: The details in this story may be distressing to some readers.
The children of a French man who for a decade drugged their mother to have her raped by dozens of strangers spoke of their heartbreak and grief, with the daughter insisting she has been "forgotten" despite also being abused.
The couple's children spoke in court in the southern city of Avignon on Monday, local time, as the trial entered its final stages, with a verdict expected next month.
Since early September, Dominique Pelicot has been in the dock along with 49 other men. Another defendant is still at large.
His former wife Gisele Pelicot has become a feminist icon by refusing to be ashamed and demanding the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
Dominique Pelicot documented the assaults of his wife with meticulous precision on a hard drive in a folder labelled "abuse", leading police to track down 50 men besides him.
The couple's daughter, who uses the pen name Caroline Darian, believes she was also assaulted by her father.
He photographed Ms Darian and his sons' wives without their knowledge and posted their naked pictures on social networks, along with pornographic photomontages.
On Monday, Ms Darian, 45, said she had been "forgotten" during the trial, adding she was convinced that she too had been drugged and sexually assaulted by her father, like her mother.
"The only difference between her and me is the lack of evidence concerning me. For me, it's an absolute tragedy", said Ms Darian, who in 2022 wrote a book Et J'ai cesse de t'appeler Papa (And I stopped calling you dad).
Gisele Pelicot chose to waive her anonymity so her former husband's trial could be held in public.
"In your disgusting files," she told her father, "you don't look at me like a father looks at his daughter.
"But you will never have the courage to tell the truth," she added.
Dominique Pelicot has confessed to rape. He denies however that he abused his daughter.
'Trial of a whole family'
Ms Darian's 50-year-old brother, David Pelicot, said that for him it was "the trial of a whole family, which has been totally destroyed."
"We hope that in the future, we will be able to erase the man to my left from our minds," he said, referring to his father.
Throughout his testimony David Pelicot described his father as "this gentleman" and expressed hope he and his co-defendants "will be punished for the horrors and atrocities they committed against my mother".
Looking his father in the eye, he urged him to tell the court "about what you did to my sister, who suffers every day and will suffer for the rest of her life, because I don't think you'll ever tell the truth!"
"And about my son too," he added, referring to exchanges between Dominique Pelicot and one of his grandchildren, whom he had allegedly asked to "play doctor".
His father insisted he had done "nothing" to them.
David Pelicot had earlier described how the children had moved all their belongings "from the house of horror" in the town of Mazan when they learnt of the decade-long rapes.
"You said she was a saint, but you were the devil himself," David Pelicot's brother Florian said.
AFP
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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