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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

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

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the original case.