A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.
Retrial Proceedings
The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.
We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”
Background
The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.
Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.
Evidence Presented
Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.
The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”
The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Defendant's Statements
Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”
Survivor's Statement
The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
Prosecutor's Remarks
Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”
Personal History
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the original case.
