At the Mazan rape trial, Caroline Darian’s rage at her father Dominique Pelicot’s denials

Antoine Camus, the lawyer for the daughter of the main accused, sought to obtain details on the two nude photos of the forty-year-old found in her computer equipment by investigators. In vain.

Will she ever know the truth about her father’s actions towards her? Antoine Camus, Caroline Darian’s lawyer, questioned Dominique Pelicot insistently on Tuesday, September 17, late in the afternoon, to try to extract details from her about the two photos of her daughter, found in her computer equipment by investigators. Since the discovery of these photos in November 2020, she has been convinced that she was drugged and perhaps even sexually assaulted by her father, or even by strangers, using the same method that the main accused in the Mazan rape trial used on his wife.

His lawyer, who also represents his mother Gisèle Pelicot, took advantage of the septuagenarian’s personality questioning to try to refresh his memory… He began by describing the two photos. They show the same woman, “on the left side and on the right side, in the same fetal position, with the sheets pulled up almost to the millimeter on his buttocks”Antoine Camus calmly described. She wears panties that Caroline Darian “indicated not to be his”.

“I can understand his doubts, but in no case was there anything,” said Dominique Pelicot, after having declared just before: “I have never touched my children, nor my grandchildren: I know too well how much it hurts.” A reference for the main accused to the incestuous relations that his father (now deceased) had with a mentally deficient little girl adopted by the family, when he was still a child. During a good part of this interrogation, CAroline Darian, now 45, glared at him, her jaw clenched.

“Why haven’t any photos of your sons been found?” continued Antoine Camus. “I didn’t need this comparison, I’m not attracted to men”the 71-year-old retiree immediately replied. As during his fifth hearing in front of The investigating judge, Dominique Pelicot, repeated that he did not take the photos of his daughter himself. Before the criminal court of Vaucluse, he affirmed that he was not “not convinced” that it is indeed her in the photos. “I’m going to puke!”the person concerned reacted furiously before leaving the room.

“How can she recognize herself? How can police officers recognize her?” has insisted the lawyer. “And why did you create the directory ‘My naked daughter’?” Why, Antoine Camus continued, call a photo “My bitch and her daughter”in reference to a montage he had made. Dominique Pelicot assured that he had simply responded to someone’s request “more than 200 kilometers away” who has him “showed his wife and daughter in their bathroom and [lui] asked the same thing”. But his explanation did not convince the civil party.

Antoine Camus continued his questioning, with tenacity: “Do you admit that you had an incestuous look?” “I never looked at her like that.”retorted the accused, in a barely audible voice.

“Can’t you behave like a man and tell the truth? Don’t you understand that your daughter is suffering, that her distress is acute?”

Antoine Camus, lawyer of Gisèle Pelicot and Caroline Darian

to Dominique Pelicot

“I have never touched a child,” has invariably replied Dominique Pelicot. “Do you admit that it was you who took this photo?”Antoine Camus asked again. “No it’s not me, neither of them”the accused swore.

“You’re lying!” ” Caroline Darian then said from across the room. The lawyer reiterated that his client was certain she had been drugged. “Why do you say that, since the tests proved that there was nothing in his hair?” replied Dominique Pelicot, an expert on his subject. “You know what happens with delayed analyses on psychoactive drugs… It’s a shame that there is no proof. That’s the whole tragedy of your daughter.”, concluded Antoine Camus.

The exchange ended there, under the angry gaze of Caroline Darian. During the first week of the hearing, the lawyer had asked the psychologist who had carried out the assessment of the forty-year-old if she could hope to get better one day. “and rebuild on such important question marks.”

“My client’s tragedy is that she doesn’t believe what her father says. If he reassures her, she won’t believe him. If he confirms her worst fear, she’ll fall into another form of hell.”

Antoine Camus, lawyer of Gisèle Pelicot and Caroline Darian

before the criminal court of Vaucluse

“Not knowing is a trap”the expert had acknowledged. “Whatever Mr. Pelicot may say, his words will be tainted with suspicion,” he had estimated, inviting Caroline Darian not to embark on “a relentless quest for knowledge.” Otherwise, “There will always be doubts, shadows, and therefore mental torture”. But is it really possible to live wondering if her father raped her?