A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.
Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019. The court heard Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.
Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus, had told the court: “We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated. Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”
Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.
Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years. The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.
Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been was “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”
The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.
Dogan told 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 told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your case.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”
Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, for whom he was the principal carer as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.
