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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, 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 outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.