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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told 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 put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 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.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.