A survivor of gender violence is battling for the father of her five-year-old daughter to be convicted of allegedly sexually assaulting the girl. The events date back to 2023, when the woman realized that her daughter, who was three years old at the time, had "redness and scratches on her private parts."
The Court of Instruction number 1 of Arrecife condemned in a quick trial held in January 2024 the ex-partner of Marta (fictitious name) for threatening and harassing her continuously when breaking up the relationship. Among other things, according to the court order that La Voz has been able to access and where he acknowledged the facts, since they left their sentimental relationship he intimidated and threatened her by WhatsApp and through text messages. Even, in an episode exposed in court, he ran into her at a bus stop in Caleta de Famara and said to her: "You are going to cry for your children, bitch, whore." He had already threatened her on other occasions.
After reaching an agreement with the Public Prosecutor's Office, he was only sentenced to community service and a ban on approaching within 300 meters and communicating with the victim for two and a half years. However, in May 2024, the accused violated the sentence and was sentenced to nine months and one day in prison.
Despite having a conviction as a victim of gender violence, Marta maintains a legal battle for a Court of Arrecife to investigate whether her ex-partner sexually assaulted her minor daughter during one of her visits. For the moment, after several attempts, the Instruction Body number 4 of Arrecife, has provisionally dismissed the case by pointing out that "the perpetration of the crime is not duly justified", that "the minor presents high resistance to the assessment" and that "she was very uncooperative."
"He told me that his father tickled her" in private areas
In the first months after their breakup, the mother agreed to let the father see the girl. According to the mother to this editorial staff, the minor was picked up by her paternal grandparents from school on many occasions and, "one of the times the girl came with her private parts reddened and with a scratch, and her vagina was manipulated because the doctor who examined her said so." "I asked the teacher if she had done it at school but she said no," she continues.
The girl, according to the mother, was "terrified" of having her diaper removed, being bathed and being cleaned when she did her needs. "Some time later, my daughter was with a friend and tickled her in her private areas, I told her that this was not right and she told me that her father tickled her, so from that moment she stopped seeing him," she declares.
As a result of this, the mother tried to talk to the paternal family so that the girl would go to a psychologist but they refused, so she filed a complaint providing photos and evidence of the alleged injuries that the minor had. However, the Court dismissed the case and then, after an appeal by the mother, reopened it. "They closed it because the girl, at three years old, did not speak to the psychologist," she says during an interview with this editorial staff.
Last December, the minor, already five years old, testified in a court hearing before the Court of Instruction number 4 of Arrecife and "said that the father tickled her in her private parts with a doll." Marta has pointed out that, "according to the judge, there is no evidence of these facts because it is a very serious accusation to condemn someone." At the same time, she explains that as the minor did not declare at the time what she narrated a few months ago in front of the court, "they close the case again."
The mother explains that, after prohibiting the father from seeing the minor, a Court ordered that the father could see the girl at a family meeting point, a space enabled for visits between minors and their families in cases of conflict. However, she assures that once she knew that they were going to be in these spaces she "gave up" seeing the little one. The woman, together with her lawyer, says that they will present a new appeal to be able to open the case.
The paternal grandparents request to see the girl
In this time, the Court of First Instance number 1 of Arrecife also ruled on the request of the paternal grandparents to be able to visit the minor. The Court concluded that "there is just cause" to deny these visits and supported this decision by endorsing "the interest of the minor." Thus, it added that the five-year-old girl "is placed in a situation of risk" by maintaining communication with the paternal grandparents. The Chamber decided to withdraw the visits that a previous judicial body had granted to both, despite recognizing the risk situation.
Likewise, in the judicial resolution, dated January 2025, the Court stated that when asking the grandparents if they would make possible visits with the minor at a meeting point under professional supervision, the grandparents rejected the proposal. In this case, the Public Prosecutor's Office stressed that the protection of the minor is fundamental, "both for the repeated complaints, convictions and removals" for mistreatment of the minor's mother and for "the disconnection of the grandparents during a considerable period of time" and not having assumed the role of grandparents since they stopped relating to the minor. In fact, since the mother filed the complaint in 2023, the grandparents had not maintained a relationship with the girl nor had they tried to contact her, according to the judicial ruling.
