A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to 10 years.
The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.
“We hope the court will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.
The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for 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 sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.
Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”
Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”
Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.
He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.
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