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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge 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 consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.