A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade.
Retrial Proceedings
Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.
We trust the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
Case History
Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”
The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.
The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.
Accused's Testimony
Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”
Victim's Response
The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
State's Argument
The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”
The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”
Biographical Details
The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.
