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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

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

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

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

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.