French Higher Court Uphighers Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of 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 abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the original case.