A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.
The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.
We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.
Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”
The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.
The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.
Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”
The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.
He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.
