A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to 10 years.
Retrial Proceedings
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.
We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.
Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan 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 chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.
Evidence Presented
Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.
The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”
The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.
The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.
Accused's Testimony
Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” 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 the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”
Survivor's Statement
The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
State's Argument
Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”
Personal History
The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.
