🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the first trial.