Serial rapist's daughter makes 'devil' father eight-word promise as he faces life in prison

Serial rapist Dominique Pélicot, 71, was told by his 45-year-old daughter, Caroline Darian, that she will never go to see him in prison and he will end up alone 'like a dog'

A serial rapist described by his family as "the devil incarnate" for allowing dozens of strangers to violate his wife was today told by his own daughter: "You will end up alone like a dog."

Frenchman Dominique Pélicot, 71, is facing spending the rest of his life in prison after admitting all charges during his trial at the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon. He and 50 other defendants are accused of the "aggravated rape" of Gisèle Pélicot, now a 72-year-old grandmother who divorced Mr Pélicot over the summer.

On Wednesday, their 45-year-old daughter, Caroline Darian, was involved in a disturbing exchange with Mr Pélicot. Sitting behind reinforced plastic in a high-security dock, he said: "This might make someone scream here, but I would like to look my daughter straight in the eyes."

Ms Darian is convinced she was – like her mother – secretly fed drugs to subdue her, so that her father could take pictures of her in the nude while she slept. Insisting he "never touched my children or my grandchildren," Mr Pélicot said: "It hurts me to see her like this, despite what she thinks."

Ms Darian erupted in fury at this point, saying: "You are going to hear it here in court – I will never go to see you in prison. You have had many opportunities to see us. You will end up alone like a dog." Mr Pélicot replied: "We always end up all alone." This prompted his daughter to say: "You especially."

It followed Mr Pélicot making a personal plea to his family, saying: "I thought they would be devastated, but not to this extent." In the court hearing on Tuesday – the 48th day of the trial – Ms Pélicot herself denounced the "cowards" who raped her and blasted "a macho, patriarchal society where rape is trivialised."

Staring continually at defendants after waiving her legal right to anonymity, she said: "Since the beginning of this trial, I have heard a lot of whispered, unacceptable things, but that is how this trial had to happen. I knew what I was going to be exposed to by refusing to go to a closed hearing. Obviously, I recognise that I am feeling tired today. I have been omnipresent. I find it very difficult when people say that it is practically commonplace to have raped Madame Pelicot."

She added: "For me, this is a trial of cowardice. The trial of Gisèle Pelicot is the trial of cowardice." Becoming more emotional, Ms Pélicot said: "Society needs to open its eyes to the fact that we live in a macho, patriarchal society where rape is trivialised."

Ms Pélicot was supported in court by her youngest son, Florian Pélicot, 38, who on Monday told his father: "I am very grateful to have our mother alive, but I have a lot of incomprehension about what our father did." Mr Pélicot added: "You always said that our mother was a saint. But you, you were the devil incarnate." All of the couple's three adult children have testified against Dominique Pélicot.

The retired electrician and estate agent crushed sleeping pills into his wife’s food and drink, then invited the strangers to rape her between 2011 and 2020. He kept hundreds of videos of rape on his computer in a file entitled "Abuse", and has admitted the charge against him, telling the court: "I am a rapist."

Some of his co-accused admit rape, while others say they did not know Gisèle Pelicot was drugged, despite videos showing her snoring loudly. Ms Pélicot, a former logistics manager, has become a feminist icon after saying the trial has raised awareness of the use of drugs to rape women. Ms Pélicot said she had suffered "acts of barbarity" and would not "feel at peace until the end of my life."

She added: "I'll learn to live with it. I'll rebuild myself. But there'll forever be 51 people who have defiled me." Fourteen other men beyond her husband have confessed to raping her, while the others deny the charges, arguing that they thought Ms Pélicot had consented to having sex with them.

Some of the defendants said they had been told by Mr Pélicot that his wife took sleeping pills "to relax", only to find her unconscious when they entered the couple's home. She said that when the trial began her children were ashamed of the family name but added: "My name is known across the world now. My grandparents shouldn't be ashamed of carrying that name. Today we will remember Gisèle Pelicot." The trial continues and will end on December 21.