A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.
Appeal Trial
Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.
We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”
Context
The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.
Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”
The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.
Defendant's Statements
Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”
Survivor's Statement
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”
The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
State's Argument
The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”
Defendant's Background
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.
