Gisèle Pelicot's daughter's anguish at never hearing full truth from rapist dad
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The daughter of Gisèle Pelicot has described her anguish at not knowing whether she was a victim of her depraved father’s drug-rapes after he was jailed for 20 years. Caroline Darian, 45, was unable to sleep for days after her mother Gisèle Pelicot, 72, phoned to reveal her husband Dominique, also 72, had for years laced Gisèle's food with medication and invited strange men into their family home to rape her unconscious body.
Last month Dominique was locked up for 20 years - the maximum prison sentence for a sex offender under French law - after being found guilty of drugging Gisèle and allowing men to abuse her for at least nine years. He had connected with other rapists on a now-banned online chatroom called Without Her Knowledge and invited them to participate in the abuse, telling them to park away from his front door, remove their shoes and clothes in the kitchen and to warm their hands on the radiator so as to not wake his wife.
He insisted they keep their fingernails short as he couldn’t stand the idea of dirty fingernails on Gisèle. He was cavalier about her health, however: condoms weren’t necessary and Gisèle now lives with the long-term consequences of four sexually transmitted diseases.
Caroline still remembers the exact moment in November 2020 when her mother rang to quietly tell her that Dominique had been arrested for secretly taking photos up a woman’s skirt in the supermarket. It was then Gisèle also revealed police had discovered the trove of sickening images on Pelicot’s computer showing Gisèle passed out in their marital bed being raped by more than 70 men - 50 of whom were convicted in the biggest sex crimes trial France has ever seen.
