By Daily Mail (World News) | Created at 2025-03-06 10:45:18 | Updated at 2025-03-06 14:17:18
3 hours ago
The daughter of rape survivor Gisele Pelicot has hit out at her mother for not wanting to 'believe or hear' her allegations that her father also raped her.
Caroline Darian said her 72-year-old mother Gisele, who was drugged and mercilessly raped by her husband Dominique Pelicot and dozens of men over a period of nine years, 'abandoned' her despite standing by her side through the Mazan trial.
Dominique has consistently denied his daughter's allegations, and when Gisele was asked about them in court, she declined to answer.
Darian, who was frequently seen at her mother's side during her father's trial last autumn, said in her new book that she was deeply upset by her mother's silence.
She wrote in So That We May Remember, which was published on Wednesday: 'Her silence says a lot. I thought we were a united and tight-knit clan … and I am hit by this implacable reality in the face: my mother does not want to believe me or to hear me. The pain runs right through me.'
She added: 'It is an abandonment too many... It's as though the ground opened up under my feet... 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.'
The months-long trial - which has gone down in history as France's most notorious sexual abuse case - concluded in December last year.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, who has come to be known as the Monster of Avignon, drugged, raped and organised the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his now-ex-wife Gisele by dozens of other men.
Caroline Darian (pictured, left) was frequently seen at her mother's side during her father's trial last autumn
She wrote in So That We May Remember, which was published on Wednesday: 'Her silence says a lot. I thought we were a united and tight-knit clan'
Dominique Pelicot (pictured) drugged, raped and organised the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his now-ex-wife Gisele by dozens of other men
He and 50 other men were found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting 72-year-old Gisele at the behest of her husband Dominique over the course of a decade.
The court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault. The 51 men faced a combined sentence of 600 years.
However, at least six of the convicted men walked free in December due to poor health or because they had already served their sentence in pre-trial detention.
Many of those who are out of prison have picked up their lives where they left them before the trial.
The Sunday Times reported that in one case a convicted man was welcomed back into his family home is now back at his place of work.
According to the French parole system prisoners can apply for early release if they have served half of their sentence, or in some cases a third, and the rules are especially flexible if the prisoner is over 70, has demonstrated good behaviour or has a property they can return to.
In one instance a man served only 11 months of his five-year sentence for aggravated rape, according to information provided in court papers seen by the Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, several other abusers escaped justice, with police unable to identify more than 20 men involved.
Gisele has been praised after she waived anonymity and instead stoically attended the trial for three months and looked defiantly at each of the defendants as they were convicted of her rape and other crimes.
When she spoke for the first time at the trial, Gisele became symbolic of the impact many rape survivors hoped the trial would have when she said: 'Shame must change sides.'
A man holds a placard reading 'Thank you for your courage Gisele Pelicot' outside the Avignon courthouse
Dominique Pelicot is seen arriving at court in the back of a police car in December
Gisele Pelicot has been praised after she waived anonymity and instead stoically attended the trial for three months and looked defiantly at each of the defendants as they were convicted of her rape and other crimes
A mural reading 'Justice for Gisele, Justice for all' near the Avignon courthouse
As interest in the case grew, Gisele was clapped and cheered as she arrived at court and left at the end of the day. Graffiti honouring her bravery was daubed on Avignon's medieval stone walls and protests in support of her erupted all over France - with many seeing the case as a watershed moment for the country.
Despite this, many of the men convicted of the heinous crimes appear to feel no shame with 17 launching appeals against their sentences.
Patrick Gontard, who represented Jean-Pierre Maréchal - the second most prominent defendant in the trial - said: 'Certainly, there were others who didn't feel it was right that they were sentenced.
'They argue they were tricked by Pelicot. A lot of people convince themselves that what they did wasn't so bad. It's human.'
Gisele's husband, received the largest sentence of 20 years for raping and organising the mass rape of Gisele.
Judges have also found him guilty of recording and illegally broadcasting images of his wife and of recording images of three other women. Police found some 20,000 lurid images and videos of Pelicot's wife being abused in files on his computer, as well as pictures of his daughter and his two daughters-in-law naked.
The 72-year-old has failing health, and his daughter Caroline Darian yelled at him as his sentence was delivered: 'You will die alone like a dog in jail!'
