A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.
Retrial Proceedings
The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.
We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.
Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.
The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.
Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.
Defendant's Statements
Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. 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 brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”
Victim's Response
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
State's Argument
The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”
Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”
Biographical Details
The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the first trial.
