A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.
Retrial Proceedings
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.
We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”
Case History
The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Testimony and Proof
Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”
The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.
The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.
Dogan's Claims
Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”
Pelicot's Words
Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
Legal Commentary
The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your ordeal.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”
Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”
Biographical Details
Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.
