The children of a French man who for a decade drugged their mother so she could be raped by dozens of strangers spoke of their grief and pain on Monday, with the daughter insisting she had been “forgotten” despite also being abused.

The couple’s children spoke in court in the southern city of Avignon as the trial entered its final phase, with the last set of defendants giving evidence ahead of sentencing applications later this week and a verdict next month.

Since the beginning of September, Dominique Pelicot has been in the bank with 49 other men. Another defendant is still at large.

Pelicot’s ex-wife Gisele has become a feminist icon, refusing to be shamed and calling for the trial to be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.

Dominique Pelicot documented his wife’s assaults with meticulous precision on a hard drive in a folder labeled “abuse”, leading police to track down 50 men besides himself.

Gisela’s daughter, who uses the pseudonym Caroline Darian, believes she was also assaulted by her father.