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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny 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 the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.