French Appeal Court Increases Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Assailant
An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.
Higher Court Case
Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing 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 Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.
“We hope the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”
Background
The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.
Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.
The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”
The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”
Pelicot's Words
The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”
The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
State's Argument
Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”
Personal History
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.