A new phase of the Mazan rape trial opens this Wednesday, November 20. Before the public prosecutor's requisitions, time for the pleadings of the civil parties. But just before, the last questions from the lawyers were asked to Dominique Pelicot.
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Final mea culpa from Dominique Pelicot, conclusions from Gisèle Pelicot on the “cowardice” of the accused, scandal of their daughter Caroline Darian… The 48th day of the Mazan rape trial was crucial. It was a question of hearing each party one last time in this extraordinary trial. From this Wednesday, November 20, a new chapter opens, that of pleadings. But first, a few final questions are asked of Dominique Pelicot by the lawyers. Due to his fatigue, the questions could not be finalized on Tuesday.
Dominique Pelicot entered the dock with his cane, looking tired with the same clothes as the day before. Among the questions asked of him, that of Me Jalil-Henri Amr, which particularly annoyed Gisèle Pelicot's lawyers. “If you could choose one person in this world to support you, to help you through this ordeal?” Dominique Pelicot then talks about his daughter, Caroline Darian. “I tell him straight in the eye.”
The latter responded by shouting at the other end of the courtroom, her face red with anger, standing: “You're going to say it here in this courtyard! I'm never going to see you. You've had plenty of opportunities to do so. You'll end up alone like a dog.”
“We always end up alone”retorts, calmly, Dominique Pelicot. “You especially!”Caroline then screams. As she sits down again, Gisèle Pelicot says something to her daughter, Caroline seems very upset.
The lawyer repeats his question. Dominique Pelicot blurted out after a few seconds: “my lawyer”maître Zavarro. “No but except your lawyer…”adds Me Amr. “What exactly do you want him to say?”Gisèle Pelicot's lawyers are offended. Because it is indeed the name of his ex-wife that the accused ends up saying. “She wouldn’t agree with me.”. Gisèle Pelicot reacts without us being able to hear what she says.
Me Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot's lawyer finally speaks. These are the last questions which close the debates. In a calm and gentle voice, she declares, in the preamble: “We're going to try to talk to each other as if we were the two of us. We forget the hundreds of people around us.”
Me Zavarro then asks his client to describe the relationship he had with his daughter, Caroline Darian, during his life. The accused of listing memories, in bulk: “I was going to see her at 6 a.m. when she had her operation at the hospital, I remember freeing her from someone who was beating her on vacation, from someone who beat her on a bus , I was going to pick her up in a nightclub, like her brothers, for fear of someone that something would happen to them”.
Dominique Pelicot assures that she did not make a difference between her children, Caroline being the second. “Even though she doesn't love me anymore, I still love her. I know what I did, I know what I didn't do.”
Me Zavarro then mentions the photos, those of Caroline, naked, found in the father's camcorder. Photos that he has assured since the start of the trial that he did not take. “If I had done them, I would say so. I can't say anything more, she will never believe me. I can die like a dog, that's how it is. We all end up like that.”
Caroline does not intervene. She cries after her father's words.
At the end of the interrogation, Mr. Zavarro leaves the last word to his client. He talks about his children, sobs. Leave long silences. “It hurts me a lot.”
His last message concerns Gisèle, his ex-wife. “It is part of… (silence) of what I keep deep within myself.” The victim does not speak, but cries, following this final statement.
The hearing is suspended until Monday 25, the date on which the public prosecutor's requisitions are scheduled.
