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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades 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 Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.