🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his jail term raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.