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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the first trial.