Gisèle Pelicot returns to court to face man appealing against rape conviction

An unemployed builder seeking to overturn his conviction for raping Gisèle Pelicot when she had been drugged unconscious by her husband has told a court he "never intended" to rape her.

- Angelique Chrisafis

On the opening day of his appeal trial in the southern French city of Nîmes, Husamettin Dogan, 44, a married father, was asked by the lead judge if he denied the charge of rape.

He said: "I never intended to do so ... I am here because I never wanted to rape this lady, whom I respect." He said he accepted he had had sexual contact with Pelicot but said: "I never knew she was drugged."

Pelicot, 72, a former logistics manager, survived almost a decade of rape involving dozens of men. She was drugged by her then husband who invited people he had met in online chatrooms to come to their home to abuse her while she was unconscious in her own bed. She became an international feminist hero after she decided to waive her right to anonymity in the trial of 51 men last year.

Pelicot watched calmly in the Nîmes appeals court on Monday, sitting with her youngest son, Florian. She told the judges that once again she would waive her right to anonymity in the four-day trial.