The daughter of convicted French rapist Dominique Pelicot said Thursday she had filed a complaint against her father accusing him of sexual abuse, after he was jailed for repeatedly sedating and raping her mother Gisele Pelicot along with dozens of strangers. Caroline Darian, whose parents are now divorced, filed the complaint on Wednesday, accusing Dominique Pelicot of drugging her and committing "sexual abuse" against her, she told AFP in an interview.
She said she took legal action as a "message to all victims" of sexual abuse who were drugged not to give up. Darian has said she suspects Dominique Pelicot abused her too after pictures of her naked and unconscious body were found among the detailed records he kept of his crimes. Dominique Pelicot, 72, has always denied he abused his daughter.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, last year became a feminist icon for her courage during trial of her former husband for mass rape while they were married. She had insisted that the trial be held in public and waived her right to anonymity. A court in southern France in December sentenced him to 20 years for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of men to do the same for almost a decade. His 50 co-defendants were also found guilty and handed various sentences of between three and 15 years.
Darian has campaigned for awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse, and in wrote a book about the family's ordeal, "Et j'ai cesse de t'appeler papa" "And I stopped calling you dad".
Her new book about victims of sexual abuse, titled "For us to remember" "Pour que l'on se souvienne" , hit bookstands on Wednesday. In the latest book, she recalls her time in court at her father's trial, describing it as "the worst experience of my life" and her feeling of having been "the person who was most forgotten at the trial".
