A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.
We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.
Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.
The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.
The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”
The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.
The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.
The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”
Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”
The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”
The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.
He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the first trial.
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