🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced 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 accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, 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 regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.