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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. 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 invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.