The daughter of Gisele Pelicot has suggested chemical castration could be “one part of the solution” when there is “nothing else you can do” for sex offenders – like her father.
Caroline Darian’s father Dominique Pelicot admitted repeatedly drugging and raping his wife Gisele between 2011 and 2020, and inviting dozens of other men to their home in southern France to do the same.
Gisele decided to waive her right to anonymity to hold the trial of her husband and 50 other men in public, saying: “It is not for us to be ashamed, but for those men.”
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Speaking to Ali Fortescue on The Politics Hub, Ms Darian said the UK government’s plans to consider mandatory chemical castration could be “one part of the solution” for men like her father.
She said: “It’s probably one part of the solution because you know when you’re at that level of crime, that level of criminal, there is nothing else you can do.”
Asked if she believed “men like your father” could be rehabilitated, Ms Darian said “no” and “never”.
For ten years, Pelicot repeatedly sedated his wife and invited strangers to abuse her after advertising sex with her on a French swinging website.
Some denied the rape charges, claiming they believed Gisele had agreed to be drugged and was a willing participant in a sex game between the couple.
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But all the men charged were found guilty of at least one offence, with nearly all convicted of rape, after a trial that shocked France and made headlines around the world.
The defendants were sentenced to a total of more than 400 years, with Pelicot being sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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Pelicot also took photos of his daughter Caroline semi-naked while she was asleep.
Ms Darian is pressing charges against her father, having accused him of drugging and raping her. Pelicot has denied this.
Speaking to French media, Beatrice Zavarro, Pelicot’s lawyer, said Ms Darian’s decision to press charges was “unsurprising”.
She added that prosecutors had said there were insufficient “objective elements” to accuse Pelicot of raping and using chemical submission on Ms Darian.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said last week that she will pursue “a nationwide rollout” of a scheme being piloted in southwest England to use medication to suppress the sexual drive of sex offenders.
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Read more:
How Gisele Pelicot went from victim to feminist hero
Inside the depraved mind of ‘career criminal’ Dominique
It came after an independent review, led by the former justice secretary David Gauke, was commissioned by the government amid an overcrowding crisis in prisons in England and Wales.
The review recommended that chemical castration “may assist in management of suitable sex offenders both in prison and in the community”.
Ms Mahmood said she is “exploring whether mandating the approach is possible”. The trial is currently voluntary.
