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A defendant 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 ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.