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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 husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time 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 union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.