A man was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.
Retrial Proceedings
The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.
We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.
Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.
Courtroom Details
Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.
The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” 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 trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.
The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. 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 house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”
Pelicot's Words
The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
Legal Commentary
Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your situation.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”
Biographical Details
Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.
He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, 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 frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.
