Pélicot case: what the children knew about their father, suspected of dozens of organized rapes

Dominique Pelicot, father of three children, is accused of drugging his wife and then contacting men to rape her for about ten years.

This Monday, the trial of a terrible case opens before the Vaucluse Departmental Criminal Court in Avignon. 51 men are accused of aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged by her husband with Temesta, a powerful anxiolytic. According to the alleged facts, the rapes took place in the family home while the woman was unconscious and lasted for nearly ten years. Investigators reportedly counted at least 92 of them.

It was in 2020 that Dominique Pélicot was finally arrested, but for another matter. He was accused of filming under women's skirts at the supermarket. During a search at At his home, investigators then discovered videos of the sexual abuse suffered by his wife, who was suffering from memory loss. In front of investigators, Dominique Pélicot then admitted to feeling pleasure in seeing his wife undergo acts that she usually refused.

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Among the men, who were recruited online, accused of having participated in this sexual abuse, there are different profiles: firefighter, soldier, heating engineer, nurse, prison guard… Some are married and even parents. Most were unknown to the justice system and are between 21 and 68 years old. Many defend themselves by assuring that they thought they were participating in a libertine game. They were nevertheless given instructions before their arrival. The trial is expected to last four months and the accused face up to 20 years of criminal imprisonment.

A father "unsuspected"

Dominique Pélicot is a retired salesman and lived with his wife for fifty years. They had three children. Since the affair was revealed, Gisèle has left Vaucluse and lives as a recluse with the support of her children and grandchildren. The three children are totally lost, says their lawyer, Me Antoine Camus, as reported by France Bleu. “Who is this man who raised them ? Whose children are they ? What are their childhood memories worth ? Birthdays, holidays ? It's an entire life that, at the age of 40, 45 and 50, flies into pieces.

According to their mother's lawyers, they realize that they knew nothing about him. “Are they really the children of a monster? ? Are they the children of a psychopath? ?”, he wonders. At the trial, they will face the one they thought was “the perfect father and husband”.

Despite their mother's occasional absences from family gatherings, the children said they did not suspect anything and that their father had never been violent or inappropriate. “My brothers and I were very close to our father. It was unimaginable!” Caroline Darian told Paris Match. The latter also discovered photos of herself in her underwear on her father's computer.