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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.