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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years 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 union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.