A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to ten years.
Retrial Proceedings
Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France 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, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.
We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”
Case History
The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.
Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.
Evidence Presented
The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.
The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.
The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.
Defendant's Statements
Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, 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 convinced me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”
Victim's Response
Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
Legal Commentary
The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your case.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”
Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”
Personal History
The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.
He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.
