Gisèle Pelicot's son speaks after the verdict
The perpetrators are in custody, but the family is lost
Gisèle Pelicot speaks to reporters after the verdict. (archive image)
Lewis Joly/AP/dpa
What does such a cruel act do to a family?
It's over: Dominique Pelicot has to spend 20 years in prison for the serious rape and sexual abuse of his ex-wife Gisèle. This marks the end of a chapter for his children. But there is also a family left behind that has lost itself.
“Somehow we children felt forgotten”
David Pelicot (50), the eldest son of the convicted Dominique Pelicot, is “satisfied” with the verdict. “He got the maximum, which was 20 years in prison.” Now he must pay the bill for the atrocities he committed against our mother“, he says to the television station BFMTV.
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But that's not all: the Pelicots' children are the “forgotten ones” of this process, says David. The trial is not only “the trial of Gisèle Pelicot, but also that of a family that was completely wiped out.” Somehow we children felt forgotten.”
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His childhood is gone
He says his family life was “wiped out” on November 2, 2020. That day his mother called him and told him about his father's actions. For David Pelicot, a world collapsed: “My father no longer exists, I had to mourn him.” “My entire childhood has disappeared, it was wiped out,” he says in an interview with the broadcaster BMFTV.
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In addition, not all questions have been answered yet. “We had a lot of questions and we didn't receive any answers.” Among other things, it is still unclear whether Dominique Pelicot also died of his daughter Caroline Darian. She is convinced that her father not only drugged and abused her mother, but also her. Dominique Pelicot denies these allegations – even though photos and videos of his exposed daughter were found on his computer. David's son also reported that his grandfather had attacked him.
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A process as a symbol for society
But David also has great hope: the process should become a “testament for future generations,” he says. He sees the verdict as a “great message of hope for victims of violence and sexual abuse” – and a compass for the “education of our children and especially our sons”. In addition to Dominique Pelicot, 50 other men were charged. She raped Gisèle, now 74, several times while she was unconscious.
He is not satisfied with their sentences, which range from three to 15 years: “I am a little disappointed with what the other defendants got.” (aeon)
