Who Is Gisèle Pelicot’s Daughter Caroline Darian?

Since September, Gisèle Pelicot has sat through hundreds of hours of disturbing evidence against Dominique. In October, she bravely took to the stand to give her testimony, where she said ‘I say it’s not bravery, it’s will and determination to change society. This is not just my battle, but that of all rape victims.’ This morning, she arrived at court in Avignon with her family to hear the verdicts.

The horror of what Gisèle went through is unimaginable. Her decision to waiver her right to anonymity has given a voice to survivors everywhere. But another woman at the centre of the devastating trial is Gisèle’s daughter, Caroline Darian. Dominique was found guilty not only of abusing his then-wife, but of making and distributing images of a sexual nature of his daughter, Caroline, and of two other women, Aurore and Celine, the wives of his sons.

In court, Caroline described herself as a 'forgotten victim', and, like Gisèle, we must not let her story go unremembered. But who is Caroline Darian and what did she say in court? Here's everything we know...

Who is Caroline Darian?

Caroline Darian is the daughter of Gisèle Pelicot. She has two brothers, David, who is 50 years old, and Florian. Caroline Darian is 45 years old.

'An entire family has been destroyed,' David told the court in November. 'How could one imagine that the mastermind was someone who we thought was sane, loyal and who we trusted,' said Caroline.

What did Caroline Darian say in court?

Caroline Darian was secretly photographed naked by her father, as were her two sister-in-laws while taking a bath.

At first, Caroline didn’t recognise herself – it was only when police pointed out a birth mark that the realisation dawned on her. The photos were found by police on Dominique’s computer in a file titled ‘My Naked Daughter’, which contained semi-nude images. She is convinced that – like her mother – she was routinely drugged so that her father could attack her.

Speaking in court in September, Caroline said 'There was a woman who, apparently, was sleeping, lying on her side, with the light on. We could see her buttocks. In the second photo, this woman is in the same position, wearing the same underpants, with the same staging. Her buttocks were showing. I did not recognise myself, but the police officer pointed out a brown spot on her cheek, like mine.'

She continued 'There, I discovered myself and I understood that the man who was my father, in whom I had total confidence, who I thought had integrity, who respected his daughter, who was proud of her, who had always encouraged her, I discovered that in fact, my father had photographed me without my knowledge, naked. How do you rebuild yourself from the ashes, when your father is undoubtedly one of the worst sexual predators of recent years?’

In November, she called her father a ‘liar’ and described herself as the trial’s ‘forgotten victim’, with no record of the abuse she believes took place.

Has Caroline Darian written a book?

In 2022, Caroline became the first member of the family to speak out about the trauma when she penned a book about the case called ‘And I stopped calling you Daddy.’ The judge quoted parts of the book in court, to tell the story of how Caroline learned of her father’s crimes and the devastating effect it has had on the family.

In the book, she wrote how she was 'haunted by the fear' that her father may have invited men to rape her too, adding 'I'm convinced I was drugged, but he'll never admit it.'

In November, Variety reported that Caroline Darian is the narrator of a new documentary, Chemical Submission, May Shame Change Camp. The documentary chronicles the trial of the mass rape case involving her parents and sheds light on the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.