The daughter of the Monster of Avignon has spoken for the first time since her father’s conviction in the largest rape trial ever held in France, delivering a damning verdict.
Caroline Darian remained a pillar at her mother’s side during the grotesque trial of Dominique Pelicot, 71, where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping and organizing the mass rape of his wife, Gisèle.
While his 50 co-defendants also received guilty verdicts, with sentences ranging from three to 15 years, some of them suspended, for their involvement in France’s most notorious sex crimes trial.
However, although she was never admitted to court, the 46-year-old Parisian communications manager believes she too was subjected to sordid abuse at the hands of her father.
Most of the gruesome photos and videos found meticulously cataloged on Pelicot’s hard drives showed various strangers abusing an unconscious Gisele.
But some showed Caroline, also sleeping, in various states of undress.
Talking about the trial for the first time the guardian She described her horrors saying: ‘I felt anger. They (men convicted of rape) are cowards.’
Surprisingly he added that: “Many of them looked at me as a sexual object during this trial.”
Gisele Pelicot (center) and her daughter Caroline Darian (left) speak to the media after leaving the Avignon criminal court.

Gisele Pelicot (2-R), her daughter Caroline Darian (R) and their lawyers Stéphane Babonneau (2-L) and Antoine Camus (L) walk to the criminal court today.

The Pelicots remarried in 2007. They initially separated to avoid Gisele being responsible for debts her husband had incurred.
On Dominque’s computer equipment that was confiscated after his arrest, French authorities found a folder labeled “my naked daughter.”
Within this secret file were two images of Caroline, then in her 30s, sleeping in beige underwear.
When shown this by police, Darian claimed that she did not sleep in this position, had never seen that specific pair of underwear before, and would never have gone to bed dressed like that.
Following this revelation, she told the court that she was convinced that she had probably also been raped and abused by Dominique.
Although there was no direct evidence that the married mother of one was sexually abused, she firmly believes she was drugged by her father and says she will never know for sure if she was also raped, leaving her locked in “doubt and silence” unable to know. ever the truth.
“I consider myself the forgotten victim of this trial,” Caroline told the court.
‘Gisele was certainly raped. She was chemically subdued, of course. The only difference between Gisele and me is that for her there is evidence. For me it’s a real tragedy.’
During the trial, Dominque continued to deny drugging or abusing his daughter and in his closing statement the 71-year-old said: ‘I would like to look my daughter straight in the eyes and tell her that I didn’t do anything (to her). ‘
She jumped up and shouted in a fit of rage: ‘I will never see you again! You will die alone like a dog!
Caroline was briefly admitted to a psychiatric facility as her mental health worsened amid the fallout from her father’s arrest.
Since then, he also launched a pressure group called “Don’t Send Me to Sleep” to raise awareness about “chemical submission.”

Gisele Pelicot’s son Florian (L) and daughter Caroline Peyronnet (R) leave the criminal court in Avignon, France, on September 5, 2024.

Dominique Pelicot pictured on holiday on the Ile de Ré in 2018 with his wife Gisele, two years before he was arrested for drugging her and arranging for men to rape her.

Caroline, 45, told the Avignon court on Friday that she believed her father had also drugged her, after police showed him photos of her unconscious on a bed in her mother’s underwear.
“You can’t imagine the sadness and loneliness,” he said.
‘I have a part of his DNA. And it is difficult to be the daughter of the biggest sexual criminal of the last 10, 20, even 30 years, and at the same time be the daughter of an icon like my mother… I don’t know if it is better to be Gisèle’s daughter or even worse to be Dominique’s daughter Pelicot. I’ll have to live with that.’
Despite this, she told The Guardian: “I’m very proud of my mother.” She has opened the door. It has paved the way for other victims of sexual violence.
She has told them that they are no longer alone. That’s strength. So for me she is a hero… And she did it brilliantly.”
In a powerful 90-minute testimony before the Avignon court, Gisele also spoke about how the discovery drove her to the brink of suicide and left her daughter in a psychiatric ward.
‘We had it all, we had a great life. I don’t understand how this could have happened.
‘I only wanted one thing and that was to disappear. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to get in my car with my dog and be done with it.’
‘I had to tell my children that their father was in custody. I called my son-in-law and told my daughter and told them, ‘He raped me.’ Then I heard my daughter let out a deep scream that I can’t get out of my head.
‘When I told my kids this, I don’t think they really understood it. They withdrew.
“(That) night, the kids were calling all the time saying ‘don’t disappear’…they were worried he might die.”

Caroline Darian and David, the children of Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, arrive to attend the verdict

In a powerful 90-minute testimony before the Avignon court, Gisele also spoke about how the discovery drove her to the brink of suicide and left her daughter in a psychiatric ward.
Caroline herself told the judge the moment she heard, from her own mother, exactly what kind of monster her father was.
“Then my mother called me to tell me there was a problem with my father. I imagine he is in intensive care, that he is dying,’ he said.
‘But she tells me that my father has been drugging her for years so strangers could rape her in her own bed.
‘He says he has seen photos of what happened to him and that the police want to show him videos of what happened.
‘I totally lost my foundations. Fortunately my husband (Pierre) was there and so was my six-year-old son. We took him away so he wouldn’t hear his mother’s screams.’
Detectives listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.
Of the 83 men involved in the campaign of abuse, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by police.
Many denied raping Gisèle Pélicot, saying they were manipulated by her then-husband or stating that they believed she was consenting.