Caroline Darian: Daughter Of Convicted French Rapist Seeks Probe Into Own Assault

Caroline Darian, the daughter of convicted French rapist Dominique Pelicot, is calling for an investigation into her own alleged sexual assault by her father. She filed a police complaint against him, weeks after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for regularly drugging and raping his ex-wife and Darian's mother, Gisèle Pelicot. Previously, authorities uncovered semi-naked photos of Darian on Dominique's computer, in a file called "My naked daughter." Although he has denied sexually abusing his daughter, she believes there are "some serious facts which weren't really investigated," according to CBS News. 

The case in detail

In late 2024, an Avignon court found Dominique Pelicot guilty of drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot and inviting dozens of men to rape her. The revelation came in 2020 when authorities found a file a USB drive at his residence, titled "Abuses", containing 20,000 images and videos of his unconscious wife being raped by numerous men between 2011 and 2020. 

Dominique was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was also convicted of taking indecent photos of his daughter, Caroline Darian, but nothing more. She told CBS Mornings, "I'm sure there's not only two pictures of me sedated. It's what we call the post-traumatic syndrome. I learned what he did to my mom. My whole world collapsed."

According to the Guardian, Caroline Darian recalled that she did not recognise herself when she first saw the disturbing photos. "I thought she was astonishingly pale and with dark circles under her eyes... The sheets reminded me vaguely of something but nothing more. I repeated that I didn’t recognise myself. 'No, it’s not me,' I said.”

In a statement to CBS News, a lawyer for Dominique said her client is not surprised by his daughter's accusations that he did more than take photos of her. The lawyer claimed prosecutors declined to prosecute these accusations at trial because they say there was no objective evidence. Darian responded, "I want to see the truth and I will have the truth."

Caroline Darian has detailed her story in her book, Et j’ai cessé de t’appeler papa (And I stopped calling you father). She describes how she became increasingly tormented by the idea she was another survivor of her father’s perversity. "When you discover that you don't know who raised you... my dad is dead, so I will never call him that again," she said.