🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. 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 acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.