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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the first trial.