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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious 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 soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.