Gisèle Pelicot's daughter thought mum was ill - but the truth was far more sinister
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A daughter who thought her mum was experiencing blackouts due to illness was horrified to find out they were as a result of her ex-husband's campaign of rape. Caroline Darian, 45, felt she had missed signs - including Gisèle Pelicot's blackouts - her mum had been abused and she had believed "ignorance is culpable". However, Caroline's dad Dominique Pelicot kept his manipulation of his ex-wife so well-hidden it went on for years, during which time he drugged and raped her and invited dozens of strangers to do so at the family home.
Speaking after Dominique was jailed for 20 years, Caroline said: "She [Gisèle] was having a lot of blackouts. She would sometimes seem incoherent on the phone." Once, Darian's son called his grandmother to tell her about his rugby tournament, and she started repeating herself nonsensically. Darian took the phone from him and asked : "Mum, what day is it?" Gisèle couldn't reply.
Caroline and her brothers, as well as Gisèle herself, had worried she had Alzheimer's. The siblings had booked neurologists and scans, but the tests always came back normal. Fearful, Gisèle had stopped driving, pinched herself when she took the train to Paris, worried she'd miss her stop ; and was convinced she would be diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Dr Laurent Layet, the psychiatrist who first examined Pelicot after his initial arrest, said he seemed "clean and polished". But the psychiatrist sensed a "dissonance" in Pelicot's behaviour, as if he was hiding something more serious - and told police he was worth closer inspection.
