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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim'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,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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 the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.