{"id":17993,"date":"2024-11-20T21:42:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T21:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=17993"},"modified":"2024-11-20T21:42:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T21:42:15","slug":"man-who-drugged-wife-in-french-mass-rape-case-told-youll-die-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=17993","title":{"rendered":"Man who drugged wife in French mass rape case told: You'll die alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"CHRISTOPHECHRISTOPHE SIMON\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Caroline Darian accused her father of lying to the court, saying she was convinced he abused her<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Tensions at the French mass rape trial burst into the open on Wednesday when Dominique Pelicot\u2019s daughter Caroline shouted at her father from across the courtroom that he would \u201cdie alone like a dog\u201d.<\/p>\n

Caroline Darian, 45, has repeatedly said she is convinced her father drugged and abused her after semi-naked photos of her asleep were found on his laptop.<\/p>\n

He has denied abusing her but has admitted drugging his wife Gis\u00e8le for a decade and recruiting men online to rape her in their home when she was unconscious. <\/p>\n

Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men have been on trial since September, and a verdict is expected on 20 December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During an emotional day in court in Avignon, Gis\u00e8le Pelicot’s lawyers gave their closing arguments, describing the historic nature of the trial and paying tribute to her courage in waiving her anonymity to bring the mass rape trial into the open.<\/p>\n

In her statements to the court Caroline spoke of her anguish at what she says are persistent lies by her father. <\/p>\n

Earlier this week, with a voice full of emotion, she told the court her life had \u201cstopped\u201d when police first showed her photos from her father’s laptop in 2020.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Dominique Pelicot was given a chance to address his daughter while taking the stand for the final time in this trial.<\/p>\n

The main defendant said he most wished he still had Caroline’s support. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome may laugh but it\u2019s my daughter I wish I could look at in the face. It hurts to see her like this,\u201d he said, sitting in a glass box only metres away from his daughter and the rest of his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see her, I would love to talk to her,\u201d he added. As his voice faltered, Caroline\u2019s rose: \u201cI will never come see you. Never. You will die alone like a dog,\u201d she shouted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all die alone,\u201d he replied. \u201cYou especially,\u201d she hit back.<\/p>\n

It was the last public exchange between a father and daughter who by all accounts had had, for many years, a loving and close relationship.<\/p>\n

Mr Pelicot recalled visiting her in hospital when she was recovering from surgery as a child so he could hold her and comfort her, and shared memories of her teenage years.<\/p>\n

When he repeated that he would always love her even if she had stopped loving him, she looked ahead silently, tears streaming down her face \u2013 but did not respond.<\/p>\n

It was only later, when the session ended, that she approached the box her father sat in and shouted: \u201cYou had two months [to tell the truth]!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During questioning, Mr Pelicot also stated that he was a sex addict and that getting found out by police in November 2020 had \u201cunburdened him\u201d.<\/p>\n

He denied that his crimes against his wife had been sparked by an inferiority complex or by a desire for revenge for an affair she had in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Asked what he thought about chemical submission – drugging someone for the purposes of coercion or assault – he answered: \u201cIt\u2019s crap. It annihilates everything. It should never be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Pelicot\u2019s statements were followed by closing arguments from Gis\u00e8le Pelicot\u2019s legal team. <\/p>\n

Lawyers for the 50 other defendants will give their own closing arguments from next week. They are expected to explore more deeply the defence that many of the men cannot be guilty because they did not realise Ms Pelicot was unconscious and therefore did not “know” they were raping her.<\/p>\n

Over almost three hours Ms Pelicot’s lawyers, Antoine Camus and St\u00e9phane Babonneau, retold the horrific story of Dominique Pelicot\u2019s crimes, peppering their account with literary references.<\/p>\n

“Everyone contributed to this monstrosity on their own level, and allowed a woman’s ordeal to go on. It’s the banality of evil of [philosopher] Hannah Arendt,” said Mr Camus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Gis\u00e8le Pelicot gave evidence for the final time on Tuesday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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They pleaded with the judges to hand down sentences that reflected the extent of the suffering of Gis\u00e8le Pelicot and her family.<\/p>\n

Mr Camus said he was aware of the \u201cexpectations and hopes in this room and beyond\u201d for the trial, which he said he described as historic, because \u201cwe badly, urgently want and need it to be”.<\/p>\n

Leaning heavily on the notion of free will, he dismissed the defence\u2019s argument that many of the men who allegedly raped Ms Pelicot did so because they were intimidated, manipulated or tricked by her husband. “Manipulation is not hypnosis,” he said.<\/p>\n

The fact they were all aware that Mr Pelicot was \u201crecruiting\u201d many other men too should be taken into account by the judges, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who came into that house of horrors knew that others had come before him and others would follow,\u201d Mr Camus said. <\/p>\n

His colleague painted a devastating picture of Ms Pelicot\u2019s life since her husband\u2019s crimes had become known.<\/p>\n

St\u00e9phane Babonneau then described what had led Ms Pelicot \u2013 who by then was living in a small village under her maiden name \u2013 to give up her anonymity and open the trial to the public and the media.<\/p>\n

It was in 2023, he said, when French media began reporting on the Pelicot case using pseudonyms that \u201ca feeling of rebellion started to take hold of Gis\u00e8le Pelicot”.<\/p>\n

“She decided to take back control of her life. The moment had come for shame to change sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

The will to stop hiding had awoken in her, he said, because she hadn\u2019t done anything wrong. And she thought the details of her case and the videos of the alleged assaults would help expose the reality of rape.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor her story to be useful and to help other women she understood she had to give up the anonymity that had served her for years,\u201d Mr Babonneau explained. \u201cShe had to accept she would forever be the victim of the Mazan rapes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawyer also urged judges not to accept that the defendants had made a \u201cmistake\u201d when \u2013 as some have said \u2013 they raped Ms Pelicot involuntarily or \u201cout of stupidity or ignorance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you accept the right to make a mistake, what will stop another man tomorrow from saying that when a woman told him \u2018no\u2019 he actually understood \u2018yes\u2019? That he also made a mistake?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask you to reject the right to make mistakes which would put society in danger \u2013 and at the risk of seeing more Gis\u00e8le Pelicots,\u201d Mr Babonneau said.<\/p>\n

He ended by paying tribute to Ms Pelicot and said the trial would be a \u201clegacy\u201d for future generations: \u201cThey will hear the name Gis\u00e8le Pelicot, they will hear about her courage and about the price she paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning to look at Ms Pelicot, he said: \u201cYou did your job. You went beyond what was expected of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, pass on the torch to the others to carry on the fight you never chose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gis\u00e8le Pelicot, to his right, wiped her eyes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHRISTOPHE SIMON\/AFP Caroline Darian accused her father of lying to the court, saying she was convinced he abused her Tensions at the French mass rape trial burst into the open on Wednesday when Dominique Pelicot\u2019s daughter Caroline shouted at her father from across the courtroom that he would \u201cdie alone like a dog\u201d. Caroline Darian, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}