A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his jail term raised to ten years.
Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.
We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”
The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.
The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.
The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.
The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”
The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.
The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.
The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”
The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are supporting.”
The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.
He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.
