A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to a decade.
Appeal Trial
Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.
“We hope the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Evidence Presented
Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”
The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.
Accused's Testimony
Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”
Victim's Response
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up 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 Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”
Defendant's Background
The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, 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 sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.
