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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.