Gisèle Pélicot’s last words, Dominique Pélicot’s motive, tensions with Caroline Darian… A trying day at the Mazan rape trial

“You will die a lie and alone, Dominique Pélicot!”
At the end of this interview, Dominique Pélicot had the opportunity to speak one last time, before the closing arguments began the following day. The main defendant in the Mazan rape trial first addressed his three children, whom he had not seen since his incarceration four years earlier. He said he had “measured the damage of destruction” he had caused to their family, and said he “bitterly regretted his actions,” while recalling once again that he had “never touched [his] children or [his] grandchildren,” which remains one of the major questions in this case. This led to a new confrontation with his daughter Caroline Darian, who was convinced that she had also been drugged and abused: “You’re lying! You’re not telling half the truth, even about your ex-wife! You’ll die a lie, and alone, Dominique Pélicot!” she shouted from the other end of the courtroom.

Regarding the woman he still calls his wife, Dominique Pélicot described her as “strong” and “benevolent,” even going so far as to attribute a divine quality to her. “I had two gods in my life: my mother for 18 years and someone else for almost 50 years. That’s why I spoke of a ‘saint,’” he said, referring to his son’s testimony the day before. Then, after trying to explain his actions by the sexual violence he says he himself suffered during childhood, Dominique Pélicot concluded by revealing his “motive”: “If I ended up doing what I did, with people who voluntarily accepted what I proposed, I must admit that subjugating an unruly woman was my fantasy, out of pure selfishness.”