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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon 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 Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the first trial.