The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Court has sentenced a man to 31 years in prison who assaulted a woman in the early morning when she was opening an office in the city center, gave her a "tremendous beating", repeatedly raped her and held her captive, in events that occurred in January 2023
The sentence, reported by the newspaper El Día, declares the defendant, a 24-year-old Moroccan citizen, guilty of a continuous crime of rape in conjunction with trespassing and illegal detention, another of aggravated assault, a third of violent robbery and a fourth of threats.
In addition, he is imposed a fine of 75,000 euros and a restraining order after leaving prison and the possibility of being expelled from the country.
The events occurred on January 4, 2023 when the accused, who had arrived in the Canary Islands four days earlier in a small boat, noticed the victim who was heading to her work in offices located in the Olympo building in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The defendant followed the victim and, while she was opening the premises, pounced on her and pushed her inside.
The sentence considers it proven that he gave a "brutal succession of blows" to the woman and that, even when the victim no longer had the capacity to defend herself, he continued to attack her.
After leaving her helpless, the man raped her repeatedly, then stole 30 euros and her shoes and threatened to kill her if she told what happened.
The accused locked the woman in the office and an hour later, the victim managed to notify her husband and her boss, who immediately called the Police and emergency services.
The man was located at the tram stop when he was trying to return to the resource in La Laguna where he was staying.
The patient's recovery required 180 days during which she could not perform her usual activities and suffers, among other consequences, depressive crisis and anxiety, episodes of terror, helplessness, vertigo, psychological distress and severe stress.
The ruling, which is not final, assumes almost in its entirety, except for some nuance, the facts presented by the accusations - even partly accepted by the defense - and bases the conviction on the testimonies of the concierge, cleaning staff, police, medical and psychological reports.
Special importance is given to the recordings of the building's security cameras and its surroundings as they allowed to reconstruct the events and identify the perpetrator whose arrest was carried out immediately. Other evidence was the fingerprints found inside the office and the genetic traces found on the victim's clothing and body.
