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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of four women and five men, 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 evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.