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A defendant 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 prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child 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 wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.