🔗 Share this article

An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated 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 privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

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

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.