A man was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to a decade.
Higher Court Case
The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after 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 delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”
Background
The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Courtroom Details
The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”
The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.
The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.
Accused's Testimony
Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”
Survivor's Statement
Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
State's Argument
The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your case.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”
Defendant's Background
The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties 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 primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.
