An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his jail term extended to 10 years.
Higher Court Case
Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.
We expect the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
Context
The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.
Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.
Evidence Presented
Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.
The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”
Pelicot's Words
The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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
Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”
Defendant's Background
The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.
