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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the original case.