David Pelicot, the eldest son of Dominique and Gisele Pelicot, says he will ‘never forgive’ the 72-year-old, who has since been jailed for 20 years, adding ‘he was my father, but he’s not anymore’
David Pelicot recalls learning of the abuse suffered by his mother
The son of Dominque Pelicot has told of the harrowing moment he found out his “monster” father repeatedly drugged his mother and had scores of men rape her over the course of a decade. David Pelicot, the eldest son of Dominique and Gisele Pelicot, says he will “never forgive” the 72-year-old, who was jailed for 20 years in December last year.
His mother, Gisele, was regularly knocked unconscious after being given a mix of sleeping pills and tranquillisers by Dominique, so he could invite the men he had met online to come to his home in Mazan, near Avignon in France, to rape her. Speaking of Pelicot’s sickening crimes, David said: “He was my father, but he’s not anymore. Today he’s a monster.”
Gisele, also 72, bravely waived her right to anonymity to publicly detail the horrific betrayal her partner of 50 years had subjected her to from 2011 and 2020. As dozens of strangers attacked her, Pelicot filmed the depravity, building up a horrific library of abuse.
His crimes were exposed by chance in 2020 after he was arrested for taking upskirt photos in a supermarket. At the time, Gisele accompanied him to the police station, standing up for him as a thoughtful “nice guy”. But when officers seized his devices, they found 20,000 videos and images of abuse, with many featuring Gisele as the unconscious victim. She was shown the clips on November 2, 2020.
She then called her children to break the gut-wrenching news. “It’s a moment that will remain etched in my memory forever,” David said. He said his wife had answered the phone, spoke to his mum and turned pale before passing him the phone. Gisele asked him to go somewhere quiet, before explaining she had been repeatedly raped by his father and dozens of strangers.
David said: “What she told me was like a tsunami. I felt so many emotions rising within me… and then the nausea which had been mounting during the entire conversation reached a peak. I hung up the phone and it felt like the floor gave way under my feet, and I felt sick. I went to the bathroom and threw up.”
Dominique Pelicot, who appeared “clean and polished” on the outside, had meticulously planned his sick crimes behind doors, crushing sleeping pills into Gisele’s food before filming strangers as they abused and degraded her on several occasions – including on her birthday, Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve.
David added: “The moment we were told that she had been abused by more than 50 men was very difficult to hear, because this man, Dominique Pelicot, was the backbone of the family. He’d taught me to respect women, so when I heard what he’d done to our own mother, as the eldest son, I was filled with anger and total incomprehension.”
In December, Pelicot was jailed for 20 years after admitting his crimes at the family home near Avignon, in the South of France. His lawyer had argued his “split personality” enabled him to appear a perfect husband and father, whilst secretly committing the deviant acts.
David immediately cut his father off after his crimes were laid bare, but just before the trial began, his father sent him a letter. “The first thing I asked myself was why is he writing to me? Is he writing to apologise? To ask for forgiveness? Or to try to manipulate me?” David said.
“So, I read his letter carefully, but quite honestly, I tore it up and threw it in the bin.” He added: “Personally, I will never forgive him. I have no doubt he’ll die in prison, but I’m convinced that he’ll take many of his secrets to the grave.”
