The Mazan abuse trial, in which Dominique Pelicot and about fifty accompanying men sit in the dock accused of allegedly drugging and raping Gisèle, the former wife of the first named defendant, has entered its fifth week of sessions. The proceedings have featured testimony from additional key witnesses, including former partners of some defendants, Dominique’s brother, and Caroline, the couple’s daughter, who testified this Tuesday before the Avignon Court.
Not even thirty minutes into his testimony, the main defendant’s son-in-law, Pierre P., faced questions about images found by the police on his father-in-law’s computer. The photos show Caroline sleeping in underwear: “She does not sleep in that position. In this photo she is on her left side, although she never sleeps that way,” he stated in the courtroom, in the presence of Dominique, before adding: “The question is not whether he drugged his daughter, but why he did it.”
I think I was drugged
Precisely the alleged abuses of his daughter and grandchildren are the only facts Dominique has not admitted in his statements. He also denies being the author of those photographs. Did he drug his daughter to later abuse her, as he did with his mother? Who produced those photographs? These unanswered questions hang over the courtroom. (as reported by major outlets and Caroline’s memoir, And I Stopped Calling You Dad)
“I think I was drugged. I do not sleep in that position naturally. The light is too bright to have left me unshaken,” Caroline explains in her book And I Stopped Calling You Dad, in which she also recounts gynecological problems she suffered in 2019 for which no physician could determine a cause. “The three surgeons who operated on me successively could never explain the origin of the problem. For months I endured pain. I felt disabled and diminished. Today this question obsesses me: could this have a direct link to my father’s behavior and the two photos of me that were found?” Caroline asks in the book.
Nothing strange
On November 2, 2020, Pierre P. was the first to learn the reason his father-in-law had been detained. He testified before the Avignon Court about being responsible for arranging Gisèle’s transfer to Paris to be with the rest of the family, a task he described in detail during his appearance.
According to the son-in-law, he had always viewed Dominique almost as a father, and they enjoyed an excellent relationship. For that reason, he now refuses to call him father-in-law, making his stance clear to the court’s president: “I was his son-in-law; to me he no longer exists. I am Gisèle Pelicot’s son-in-law.” He also added that, in some sense, he feels guilty for not having detected anything unusual across all those years.
I am the only person responsible
After Pierre’s testimony, Dominique’s lawyer Beatriz Zavarro gave the floor to her client, who, tears in her eyes and repeatedly looking at her son-in-law, said: “To me you were like a son.” She continued: “You are not responsible for the family in any way—try to shake that off. I am the only one responsible. I regret any trouble I may have caused you in your work and in your family life.”
Facing the lingering doubt about whether Dominique mistreated his daughter and grandchildren, the detainee insisted: “I ask you one thing: believe that I never touched my daughter, my sons, or my grandsons. I apologize to you all.”