BBC
Tensions at the French mass rape trial burst into the open on Wednesday when Dominique Pelicot’s daughter Caroline shouted at her father from across the courtroom that he would “die alone like a dog”.
Caroline Darian, 45, has repeatedly said she is convinced her father drugged and abused her after semi-naked photos of her asleep were found on his laptop.
He has denied abusing her but has admitted drugging his wife Gisèle for a decade and recruiting men online to rape her in their home when she was unconscious.
Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men have been on trial since September, and a verdict is expected on 20 December.
During an emotional day in court in Avignon, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyers gave their closing arguments, describing the historic nature of the trial and paying tribute to her courage in waiving her anonymity to bring the mass rape trial into the open.
In her statements to the court Caroline spoke of her anguish at what she says are persistent lies by her father.
Earlier this week, with a voice full of emotion, she told the court her life had “stopped” when police first showed her photos from her father’s laptop in 2020.
On Wednesday, Dominique Pelicot was given a chance to address his daughter while taking the stand for the final time in this trial.
The main defendant said he most wished he still had Caroline’s support.
“Some may laugh but it’s my daughter I wish I could look at in the face. It hurts to see her like this,” he said, sitting in a glass box only metres away from his daughter and the rest of his family.
“I would love to see her, I would love to talk to her,” he added. As his voice faltered, Caroline’s rose: “I will never come see you. Never. You will die alone like a dog,” she shouted.
“We all die alone,” he replied. “You especially,” she hit back.
It was the last public exchange between a father and daughter who by all accounts had had, for many years, a loving and close relationship.
Mr Pelicot recalled visiting her in hospital when she was recovering from surgery as a child so he could hold her and comfort her, and shared memories of her teenage years.
When he repeated that he would always love her even if she had stopped loving him, she looked ahead silently, tears streaming down her face – but did not respond.
It was only later, when the session ended, that she approached the box her father sat in and shouted: “You had two…
