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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said 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 focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.