A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.
Appeal Trial
The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.
“We hope the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”
Case History
The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.
Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.
Courtroom Details
Dogan had first 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 court heard.
The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”
The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”
Victim's Response
The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
Prosecutor's Remarks
The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”
Personal History
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.
