A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.
Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.
The court heard 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 expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.
The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.
The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.
The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”
The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.
The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.
The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”
Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”
The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”
Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the original case.
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