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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told 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 focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 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 agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

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

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.