Dominique Pelicot, 72, was sentenced to 20 years in prison over the attacks on his wife Gisele that lasted for more than a decade, and involved him contacting strangers to rape her
The ‘Beast of Avignon’ Frenchman who allowed scores of men to rape his drugged wife is facing new criminal charges – following complaints by his own daughter.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, was in December sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacks on Gisele Pelicot, also 72, that extended over a decade. They took place at the family home near Avignon, in the South of France, after Pelicot contacted strangers on sex sites and then filmed many of their rapes.
On Thursday it was confirmed that Caroline Darian, the couple’s 46-year-old daughter, has filed fresh complaints at the Versailles Criminal Court, near Paris. The offences she accuses her father of are ‘rape, attempted rape, sexual assault by a parent, and administration of a substance likely to impair judgment to commit rape’ in the 10 years up until 2020.
Lawyers for Pelicot, who is serving his sentence at a prison near Avignon, have not responded to the claims. Ms Darian – herself a married mother – has always claimed to be the ‘forgotten victim’ of the saga.
She says she’s certain that she too was drugged and abused by Pelicot after two photographs found on his laptop showed her partially clothed in places she did not recognise. Prosecutors did not charge Pelicot with rape over the images, but he was found guilty of violating Ms Darian’s privacy by ‘taking, recording or transmitting’ a sexual image of her without her knowledge.
Ms Darian – who has just released a new book about her ordeal – wants a new trial. The book – So That We May Remember – is particularly critical of her mother for not backing her claim that she too was physically attacked.
She writes that Gisele Pelicot’s refusal to believe that she was also abused was “the point of no return’ in their relationship”. “It is an abandonment too many,” she writes. “Those two photographs knocked me over.
“I’m sure there are others. I know that I was sedated and abused by my father, but I cannot prove it.” During the Avignon trial, which saw Pelicot convicted, Gisèle Pelicot was asked whether she agreed with her daughter, but gave no answer.
Ms Darian wrote in her new book: “Her silence says a lot. I thought we were a united and tight-knit family but I’m hit by this implacable reality: my mother does not want to believe me or to hear me. The pain runs right through me. I have spent four years trying to be there for my mother, cherishing the bond that counted so much for me.
“I feel alone, facing a wall of desolation and no one seems to understand.” Ms Darian – who has two brothers – calls her father the “worst sexual predator in modern French history”.
In January, he denied murdering an estate agent who was first subdued with chemicals. Pelicot made the claims during a four-hour grilling by examining magistrates about two notorious ‘cold cases’.
The retired electrician and estate agent was questioned about the killing of Sophie Narme, a 23-year-old estate agent, in greater Paris, in 1991. He was also asked about the attempted rape of another estate agent identified only as Marion, 18, who was attacked in the same area in 1999.
Pelicot denies any wrongdoing in both cases. Gisèle Pelicot becoming a global feminist icon after she waived anonymity to face her ex-husband in court. A total of 49 other men were in December sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison for raping or sexually assaulting her.