🔗 Share this article

An individual was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the original case.