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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

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

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.