A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.
Retrial Proceedings
The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.
“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Courtroom Details
The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.
The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.
The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” 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,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”
Survivor's Statement
Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
State's Argument
Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your case.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”
Defendant's Background
The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.
He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.
