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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.