🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want 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 rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

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.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.