🔗 Share this article

A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, 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 understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.