Sentence reduced for a defendant accused of humiliating a psychiatric patient on TikTok after admitting the facts

A 38-year-old man accused of harassing on November 1, 2023, in a video uploaded to the social network TikTok a psychiatric patient who had escaped from the Juan Carlos I Military Hospital in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he had been admitted in 2008, has admitted the facts and the Prosecutor's Office has reduced the sentence it was seeking for him to 15 months and one day in prison.

In the trial held this Wednesday in the Second Section of the Audiencia de Las Palmas, the accused, Jacob H. D., has admitted that he mocked the victim, Cristóbal R. R., who died in June 2024, while he was still wearing the pajamas of the Canary Islands Health Service and despite his evident 78% disability due to paranoid schizophrenia, which he had been recognized since 1999.

Around 1:04 PM on November 1, 2023, the defendant uploaded a video to the aforementioned social network in which, "with clear intent to humiliate and mock," as the Prosecutor's Office considers, he urged the victim to imitate the sounds made by various animals, that is, to "make the rooster, pig, horse, or donkey sounds," instructions that the patient followed.

The recording received 266 likes, was viewed by 16,000 people, and shared 93 times, and was removed from Tiktok, as a precautionary measure, in November 2024, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office in its provisional indictment.

This indictment has been modified this Wednesday to reduce the prison sentence requested for the accused for a crime against moral integrity, the authorship of which he has admitted, from two years to 15 months and one day, and the disqualification sought for him from 8 to 3 years and one day.

In addition, the Prosecutor's Office has urged this Wednesday that the defendant participate in an equality of treatment and non-discrimination program.

In the sentence delivered orally by Judge Pilar Parejo, at the request of the public prosecution, with which the defense has agreed, it also reduces the amount that the defendant will have to pay to the victim's three siblings, who were present at the oral hearing held this Wednesday, from 6,000 to 4,000 euros.

An amount that the convicted person, who currently receives unemployment benefits, as he stated, has committed to paying at a rate of 170 euros per month.

If he defaults on any payment, the judge has warned him that the custodial sentence will be applied, from which he may be exempt once his prior convictions are studied, related to a final judgment issued in December 2020 for a minor offense of harassment, another from December 2019 for a minor offense of threats, a third from July 2013 for a drug trafficking offense, and a fourth from April 2011 for a minor offense of threats, as detailed by the Prosecutor's Office.