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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “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 hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community 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 Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced 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 school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.