The story that is shaking France: The man drugs his wife and invites 50 men to rape her

The trial of Dominique Pelicot, a man who orchestrated a nine-year campaign of abuse, drugging his wife before inviting dozens of men to rape her, has disgusted and shocked France.

In the past two days, the court heard how Pelicot, 71, sent a flood of messages to various people, some of whom accepted the invitation, to rape his wife.

"You are like me - you like rape", the 71-year-old addressed about 50 people.

In front of the court together with Pelicot, there are also 50 men who participated in the serious rape in the group of accused.

Pelicot's daughter, Caroline Darian, has already provided vivid details to an extensive account of her father's disgust.

In her book titled And I Stopped Calling You Dad, Darian explains in 176 pages the ways in which her father manipulated, abused and cruelly destroyed the physical and mental health of his wife Gisele before his dark deeds. to be revealed in November 2020.

She writes how her father 'dressed her mum up like a cheap prostitute' and forbade the many men he invited into the family home to wear condoms as they abused her unconscious mother - including a that even tested positive for HIV.

Darian's book, published in 2022 roughly a year and a half after her father's crimes were discovered, describes the devastation of the Pelicot family when Gisele's health was inexplicably failing.

Although some of the names were changed when the book was published, Darian gives a harrowing account of how her father manipulated her mother and drugged her with powerful tranquilizers.

Writing about an incident in the summer of 2018, Darian recalls how her brother went to visit their parents for dinner, only to find his mother asleep at the dinner table.

"Just a few minutes after sitting down, Maman was rocking in her chair like she was drunk," Darian is quoted as saying.

“Suddenly her whole body was drained of energy, like a rag doll. It's better if I take her to bed,'' his father was reported to have said, playing the role of a concerned husband acting in his wife's best interest.

She goes on to write that Mr. Pelicot dared to suggest that his wife was having an affair when she complained of severe gynecological problems and tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease.

Darian claimed that when Gisele told her husband she needed treatment for the unexplained illness, he asked her: 'what have you done?', accusing her of cheating.

She also explained how, despite inviting up to 72 men into the family home to spend time with Gisele, her father never asked for money or tried to take advantage of the barbaric scheme.

'The ultimate perversity… Dad, who always had money problems, didn't take advantage of Maman. He did it purely for his own pleasure.'

Investigators discovered more than 20,000 images and videos of Gisele being raped by 72 men, 51 of whom, including Mr Pelicot, have now been identified.

Her husband played the role of a director and recorded his films with labels like 'Her Rapists', 'Abuse' etc.

To ensure that Gisele had been unconscious and had not consented to sex, as many of the arrested attackers claimed, they were forced to confront the sickening videos.

Darian explained in her book how her mother broke the news to the family.

"Your father is going to jail," Gisele said bluntly in a phone call.

'Caro, it's true… I had to look at some of the photos at the police station. I thought my heart was going to stop beating,” Darian was quoted as saying.

When Darian and her brothers rushed to the police station to speak with investigators, they themselves were confronted with the horrifying reality of how their father had treated Gisela.

“Tell my dad I'll never forgive him and he's ruined our lives,” Darian said in response as she left the station.