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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.