
In December, Gisèle Pélicot's ex-husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging her and providing dozens of men to rape her at their home in France over a period of nearly ten years. However, her daughter suspects that, like her mother, she may have been drugged and raped by her father.
Unlike her mother's case, there is currently no evidence of what Pélicot may have done to his daughter, Darian.
In an interview with the BBC, Caroline Darian, the daughter of Gisèle and Dominique Pélicot, both 72, said she is certain her father drugged her and believes he did it to sexually abuse her. But she has no proof.
Her suspicions began to develop when police first showed her photos Dominique had taken of her sleeping, Darian, 46, told the BBC. When confronted with the images that were discovered on her father's computer, Darian said she didn't recognize herself at first.
"I had trouble recognizing myself at first," she told the BBC of the photos, which show her unconscious on a bed in just her underwear and a T-shirt.
"I was lying on my left side like my mother, in all her pictures," said Darian, who has written a book, "I'll Never Call Him Dad Again" (released Jan. 14), about the trauma. of her family.
Dominique has denied abusing his daughter and offered another explanation for the photos of her unconscious in bed, she told the BBC. But she doesn't believe him.
“I know he drugged me, probably for sexual abuse,” Darian said of her father.
But unlike the case of the decade-long abuse of her mother, "I have no proof," she said.
"And how many other victims are in the same situation? They don't believe him, because there is no evidence," added Darian. "They are not heard, they are not supported."
Nearly a month after her husband's sentencing, Gisèle is "recovering" and "doing well," Darian said. Meanwhile, she added that she is facing the "terrible weight" of being the daughter of the victim and abuser of sexual violence.
Her relationship with Dominique is no longer that of a father and daughter, she said, adding that she now has difficulty remembering her childhood, and only accidentally referred to the rapist as her father.
"When I look back, I don't remember the father I thought he was. I look at the criminal, the sex offender that he is," Darian told the BBC.
“But,” she continued, “I have his DNA, and the main reason I'm so committed to Invisible Victims is also a way to create a real distance with this man. I'm totally different from Dominique."
Darian added that her father was not sick, but a monster who knew very well what he had done. She also added that he should die in prison.
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