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A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.