‘Evil’: Stunning village in France becomes pervert hotspot

This stunning location has made headlines due to the unimaginable sexual depravities that have taken place on its streets.

Mazan used to be known as a quiet yet stunning village in the south of France.

Now, it has a global reputation as a perverted, evil place as it’s home to convicted rapist Dominique Pelicot and is the scene of his unimaginable crimes.

Described as a “monster”, Mr Pelicot pretended to be a loving family man while he secretly drugged and raped his wife Gisèle for more than 10 years.

He also recruited more than 70 other men to join him in the rapes that took place in the Pelicot’s own home.

Now, 60 Minutes visited the French village to detail the horrors that took place on its streets, with journalist Dimity Clancey interviewing Pelicot’s daughter Caroline Darian for Sunday night’s episode.

Darian said of her father: “I thought I knew my dad and I realise that he’s a stranger. I mean, I was raised by someone who I do not know.

“ … I really hate him for everything that he’s done to my mother, but also to me. And

how many women”?

It emerged that her father kept 20,000 images and videos on a hard drive documenting the abuse of Gisele. Photos he took of Darian were also uncovered.

It truly is a shocking case.

Caroline Darian appeared on 60 Minutes. Picture: 60 Minutes

Clancey said upon arriving at the town: “It’s a beautiful, scenic drive on the way to Mazan, in the south of France. But you can’t help feeling uneasy, knowing these are the same roads dozens of rapists drove down to take part in horrific sex crimes, at the home of Dominique Pelicot.”

She described it as a “creepy and perverted place” at night time.

Mazan in southern France. Picture: Christophe Simon/AFP

Clancey also interviewed Diane Jeantet, a foreign correspondent now based in Paris, and they drove along the streets of the village. Jeantet said Mazan’s beautiful streets, where Caroline’s parents retired, will always be haunted by Pelicot’s horrific crimes.

At first describing it as “a really nice part of France”, she then said: “It’s eerie, isn’t it? You know, that normal everyday men, they would have been, you know, driving along this road, and you’d have no idea.”

Clancey and Jeantet took to the streets. Picture: Channel 9

The village is now known around the world. Picture: 60 Minutes

The Pelicot family lived in a secluded cul-de-sac, and Pelicot would tell the men to park at a sports complex a few hundred metres away from their home to avoid any suspicion from neighbours.

And once inside the house, his careful instructions continued, all to make sure Gisèle

wouldn’t wake up.

“They couldn’t wear perfume, and they couldn’t smoke cigarettes, so they wouldn’t have a strong smell that could wake her up or leave, you know, some sort of smell in the bedroom,” Jeantet said.

“They had to whisper. They couldn’t have cold hands that would also, you know, risk

waking her up. So there was this whole modus operandi.”

The Pelicot family lived in a secluded cul-de-sac. Picture: 60 Minutes

Although the abusers lived within an hour from the Pelicot’s home, Jeantet said the horror could have occurred anywhere.

“I don’t think there’s anything specific about this part of France or this part of the world or this specific town. I think this would have happened anywhere Dominique Pelicot would have gone,” Jeantet explained.

Unimaginable horror happened in Mazan. Picture: 60 Minutes

The case has shocked France, and the world. Picture: 60 Minutes

Psychiatrist Laurent Layet interviewed Mr Pelicot and some of the other rapists several times for police, and said Mr Pelicot’s depravity is almost unfathomable.

The location of the abusers raised eyebrows.

“One point in common that they had, which is most worrying, is that they had a geographical

perimeter quite close, just a few tens of kilometres away from each other,” he said.

A pedestrian walks past a collage mural reading "Justice for Gisele, Justice for all" near the Avignon courthouse. Picture: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP

Gisele Pelicot was abused by her husband for nearly 10 years. Picture: Christophe Simon/AFP

However when asked if there was something wrong with the area, due to there being so many rapists “so close together”, Layet agreed it could have happened anywhere.

“No, I don’t think we can say it’s a geographical concentration. So what’s most worrying is not that it’s just isolated to here, what is worrying is that it can happen anywhere.”

Pelicot’s crimes shocked the world. Picture: 60 Minutes

Mr Pelicot was handed a 20 year jail sentence last December, and the 72-year-old grandfather will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

“I’m satisfied,” daughter Darian said of the sentence. “He deserved it. 20 years. It was the most that he can get. Of course, I’m satisfied.”

Another 50 men, who Pelicot recruited to sexually assault his unconscious wife, were also sentenced to various punishments.

Seventeen of her abusers have launched appeals.

Pelicot is also currently being investigated for the unsolved murder of a real estate agent in Paris in 1991, and a rape of another real estate agent in 1999.

Originally published as ‘Evil’: Stunning village in France becomes pervert hotspot