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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly 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 assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty 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 higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the first trial.