French mass rape suspect among ‘worst sexual criminals’: daughter

AVIGNON, France: The daughter of a Frenchman on trial for enlisting strangers to rape his drugged wife on Friday described him as “likely one of the worst sexual criminals in past 20 years”.

Dominique Pelicot, a 71-year-old retiree, has admitted to abusing his wife without her knowledge between 2011 and 2020, drugging her with sleeping pills and then recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her in her own home.

“How are we supposed to rebuild ourselves when we know” what he did, said his daughter, 45-year-old Caroline Darian who uses a pen name, speaking in court in the southern city of Avignon on the fifth day of a case that has horrified France.

Pelicot kept meticulous records of the abuse of his wife, which police only discovered by chance after he was caught filming up women´s skirts in a supermarket.

For years his wife Gisele Pelicot, now aged 71 and in divorce proceedings, says she was troubled by strange memory lapses until she was contacted by police.

Speaking to the court on Friday morning, their daughter Darian recounted learning of the alleged abuse on November 2, 2020 from her mother after she had spoken to investigators. “My life was literally turned upside down,” Darian said.

“My mother said: ´I spent most of the day at the police station. Your father drugged me to rape me with strangers. I was made to look at the photos.´”

“It was what you call a tipping point, the start of a slow descent into hell where you have no idea how low you will sink,” she said, breaking down into tears.