The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has confirmed the sentence of two young men for sexually abusing two friends in Arrecife. The ruling considers it proven that one of them was raped and the other suffered abuse, and ratifies the penalties imposed by the Provincial Court, rejecting the appeals filed by the defendants against that first ruling.
Thus, one of them must serve seven years and three months in prison and the other two years and six months, depending on the crimes that were charged to each one. According to the ruling, both took advantage of the relationship of trust that united them to take the young women to their house, give them alcohol to drink until their capacities were diminished and then force them.
During the trial, the defendants maintained that the relationships were "consented", but neither the Court nor now the TSJC have accepted their version, based on the rest of the evidence in the case.
The events occurred in December 2017, when L.A.V. and A.H.G. invited the two young women to their house, with whom they "maintained a relationship of friendship and trust". According to the sentence, once there they were dancing and drinking, until the two young women "began to feel dizzy and disoriented, to the point of having very limited capacities to react, as they could barely move, leaving their capacity to defend themselves and to freely determine their sexual behavior annulled".
According to the ruling that has now been ratified by the TSJC, one of the convicts "took advantage of this circumstance" to try to kiss "several times" one of the young women, "being rejected by her on all occasions". Afterwards, she retired to the bathroom to vomit and he followed her and "took her to one of the bedrooms, where she lay down on one of the beds to rest".
At that moment, according to the ruling, the accused "lay down on the same bed and began to grope her and kiss her on various parts of her body, managing to put his hand under the bodysuit she was wearing and thus touch her breasts and genital area", despite the fact that she "tried to pull his hand away and asked him to stop".
Meanwhile, the other defendant took the other young woman to another room, "taking advantage of the same situation of intoxication in which she was and which made it impossible for her to offer any kind of resistance or express her conformity with an intimate relationship", and after taking off her clothes "penetrated her vaginally".
In addition to the prison sentences, the convicts must pay compensation of 3,000 euros to one of the victims and 15,000 euros to the other, and must comply with a restraining order for the duration of the sentence plus an additional three years.
