WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse
Dominique Pelicot has been convicted of drugging his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, before raping her and allowing others to assault her as she lay unconscious.
She’s not his only victim.
In the case that saw 51 men convicted of rape and assault, the so-called ‘Monster of Mazan’ has been found guilty of several other crimes involving other women.
He’s also being investigated by police for possible involvement in a murder.
Dominique Pelicot’s ‘forgotten victim’
When police uncovered more than 20,000 meticulously archived videos and photos of his wife’s abuse, they also stumbled across two pictures of another woman.
When Dominique Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, was summoned to the police station and shown the photos, she was confused.
She didn’t recognise the woman lying partly-naked on the bed.
It was only when police pointed out the birthmark on her face that she realised.
Caroline Darian was looking at pictures of herself, seemingly asleep.
On his computer, police discovered a folder named, ‘Around my daughter, naked’. She recounted her experiences in her memoir, ‘And I Stopped Calling You Daddy’.
“Gisèle was raped while drugged. The only difference between her and me is the lack of evidence concerning me,” Ms Darian told the court during the trial.
Unlike her mother, no video evidence was found showing that she was drugged and assaulted.
Caroline Darian clashed openly with her father Dominique Pelicot when he took to the stand during his trial. (Reuters: Sarah Meyssonnier)
But Caroline is convinced she was assaulted by her father.
She told the court she feels like she is the “forgotten victim” of the trial.
When Pelicot was questioned about the images in court, he said he had no memory of taking the pictures and insisted he had not abused his daughter.
“I’ll never see you again! You’ll die alone like a dog!,” Caroline Darian shouted across the courtroom in response to his testimony.
His daughters-in-law were also targets of the grandfather’s abuse.
Pelicot was convicted of taking naked photos of his then-pregnant daughter-in-law, Celine, in the bathroom with a hidden camera.
Indecent photos of his other daughter-in-law, Aurore, were also discovered in the trove of files.
Cold-case murder investigation ongoing
Dominique Pelicot’s crimes could go back further and be more depraved than first thought.
French police are investigating his potential involvement in two cold cases — the rape and murder of a Paris estate agent in 1991, and the attempted rape of another estate agent eight years later.
Investigators in the Paris suburb of Nanterre reopened the cases after the 72-year-old was first arrested for raping his wife in 2020.
When police looked at his file, they found his DNA matched blood found on the shoe of a woman known as Estella B.
She survived a rape attempt while working as an estate agent in the Paris suburb Sein-et-Marne in 1999.
The then 19-year-old claims she was assaulted while showing an apartment to an unknown man.
According to French newspaper Le Monde, she told police that she was choked, threatened with a knife, forced to lie on her stomach and then rendered unconscious with a soaked cloth placed over her mouth.
When she regained consciousness, she freed herself and scared her attacker away.
Pelicot was 46 at the time and a former estate agent himself.
When confronted with the DNA evidence in 2022, he initially denied involvement but eventually admitted to the attack.
He told police he had “an impulse” when he passed the estate agency where Estella B worked, but denied attempting to rape her or using a knife. He is expected to face trial.
Police noticed similarities between this case and an earlier cold case — the rape and murder of estate agent Sophie Narme in December 1991.
Le Monde reported Narme was a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris who was raped and killed while showing an apartment to an unknown man who choked her, forced her onto her stomach, made her inhale a chemical and used a bladed weapon.
Pelicot’s DNA was not found at the scene and he has denied involvement, but remains under formal investigation.
His former wife Gisèle Pelicot says she had no idea of any prior crimes and told the court during the trial, “When I discovered that he’d attempted to rape a young woman the same age as his daughter, it was like an explosion.”
Lawyers Antoine Camus, right, and Stephane Babonneau, second from right, were key parts of Gisèle Pelicot’s legal team. (Reuters: Alexandre Dimou)
Her lawyer Antoine Camus told the court the Pelicot family is concerned there may be even more crimes yet to be uncovered.
“Today, my clients struggle to believe that between 1999 — to just take one date — and 2011, Dominique Pelicot was off playing board games,” Mr Camus said.
“My clients, unfortunately, rule nothing out and are eaten up by anxiety over discovering even more, and over years.”
Guilty men appeal sentences
Two men convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot have already lodged appeals against the decision, France24, Le Monde and the BBC reported on Friday.
The BBC reported that both men have argued they are not rapists, saying that Dominique Pelicot told them his unconscious wife agreed to have sex with them, an argument the court dismissed.
The report said the pair are also arguing the court was unnecessarily influenced by pressure from the media and women’s rights groups to find them guilty.
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer has also indicated that he was considering an appeal, after he received the maximum 20-year jail term for drugging and raping his wife.
The deadline for appeal is December 29, or 10 days from the date of conviction.
Dominique Pelicot was found guilty of all charges against him, with an artist capturing his changing moods during sentencing. (AFP: Benoit Peyrucq)
Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer said on Friday, local time, that her client has no fear of any new trial that may occur.
“In any case, she is not afraid of it. If it were to happen, she has already indicated to us that she would face it — if she is healthy, obviously, since she is a lady who is now 72,” Stephane Babonneau, one of her lawyers, told France Inter radio.
“But in any case, she has no fear of it, that is what she told us.”
Mr Babonneau said that after yesterday’s verdicts, Ms Pelicot “was very happy to go home. She is very relieved”.
“What she doesn’t want is for other victims to think ‘this lady has extraordinary strength, I couldn’t do that,'” he said.
“She doesn’t want to be seen as an icon. She doesn’t want to be seen as someone extraordinary.
“And in reality, she is someone who remains very simple and who has decided to try to live her life in the most normal way,” he added.
Reactions to Gisèle Pelicot trial
French President Emmanuel Macron took to X to praise Gisèle Pelicot.
“Thank you Gisèle Pelicot … For all of us, because your dignity and your courage have moved and inspired France and the world”, President Macron posted on X.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also praised the French grandmother for her stand.
“The shame must change sides. Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot!,” Chancellor Scholz wrote.
“You courageously went from anonymity to a public figure and fought for justice. You gave women around the world a strong voice. The shame always lies with the perpetrator.”
The case resonated across Europe, with the front pages of major newspapers across the continent leading with the story.
The trial dominated the front pages of British newspapers on Friday. (AFP: Oli Scarff)