The defendant accused of having sexually abused two minors when they were both 15 years old has acknowledged the facts this Tuesday before the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court and has accepted the sentence requested by the Prosecutor's Office, which has reduced it to 7 years in prison.
Initially, the Public Prosecutor's Office was asking for 24 years in prison for Giovani Hidalgo Herrera (12 for each of the victims), but before the hearing began, they reached an agreement whereby the trial did not take place.
"The facts are true," the defendant responded upon entering the room, when questioned by the magistrate. "Are you repentant?" the prosecutor asked him. "Completely, yes sir," he replied, also adding that on the day the events occurred, he "had consumed alcohol and drugs."
When modifying his initial classification, the prosecutor applied, among other mitigating factors, the confession and the "reparation of the damage," as the defendant also committed to paying the compensation requested for each of the victims. One of them must receive 5,000 euros and the other 10,000, although the defendant has stressed that he has no job or income and that he lives on some "odd jobs" he does and the "help" of family and friends.
"As long as I can financially, I will comply with my legal obligations," he assured before the Sixth Section of the Court. However, he has also committed to handing over 500 euros this Tuesday, according to the prosecutor, as a first part of the payment.
As for the sentence, which will now be included in the judgment in accordance with what was requested by the prosecutor and accepted by the defendant, it has been set at 4 years in prison for the crime against one of the victims and 3 years for the other. From that time, the months he already spent in provisional detention after the events occurred, between May 2019 and July 2020, will be deducted.
In addition, he will also be prohibited from approaching the victims or communicating with them in any way for 10 years, as well as from carrying out any work related to minors for 8 years. Once the prison sentence has been served, he will also be subject to supervised release, as it is a sexual crime against minors.
One of the victims was in a minor's center
The events that the defendant has confessed to occurred on April 19, 2019, when he invited the two victims to sleep at his home, "taking advantage of the relationship of trust" he had with them. In addition, one was in "special vulnerability", "due to her situation of defenselessness and family breakdown, as she was admitted to a minor's center in the town of Arrecife."
The indictment that the defendant has fully acknowledged states that once in the house, "moved by his sexual attraction to minors, with the intention of having sexual relations and thus satisfying his libidinous desire, he offered them to have sex with him in exchange for money, and they accepted said proposal."
As a consequence of what happened, the Prosecutor's Office points out that one of the minors presents "depressive-type symptoms, a tendency to indiscipline and to isolate herself due to distrust of others"; and the other "a mixed-type adaptive disorder with anxiety and depression, in addition to feelings of guilt and low self-esteem."
