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A man 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.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” 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 residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.