A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to 10 years.
Appeal Trial
Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.
We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”
Background
The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated 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 focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.
The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”
Pelicot's Words
The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
State's Argument
The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”
Defendant's Background
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated 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 child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.
