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A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood 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 primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.