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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied 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 invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.