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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.