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A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused 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 sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. 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 legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.