A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.
Higher Court Case
Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.
We expect the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”
Context
The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.
Evidence Presented
The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”
The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.
The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”
Pelicot's Words
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Legal Commentary
Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”
The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”
Biographical Details
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.
He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the original case.
