The Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has ratified the sentence that the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas handed down against a man for raping a tourist in a nightclub in Puerto del Carmen during the summer of 2022.
Specifically, the man has been sentenced to six years in prison, with the accessory disqualification of the right to passive suffrage during the term of the sentence, the prohibition of approaching within 500 meters of the victim, her home, that of her family, her place of work or any other, as well as the prohibition of communicating with her for nine years. In addition, the prohibition of exercising for eleven years any profession, trade or activities, paid or not, with minors.
Also, supervised release after completing the sentence and expelling him from Spanish territory when he has served two-thirds of it. In addition, he will not be able to return to Spain within a period of eight years.
The events date back to June 25, 2022, when the defendant O.A. was in the company of several people, including the victim, in an establishment in the Atlántico shopping center in the coastal town.
According to the ruling, when they went up to the second floor of the store, the defendant took the victim to the toilets, lowered her pants and underwear and penetrated her vaginally against her will. Then, he forced her to perform fellatio on him.
In response to the appeal, the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands concluded that "there are peripheral corroborating elements" of the events and also that the testimony of the friend who accompanied the victim "supports the veracity" of her account.
In addition, he added that DNA tests verify that cells of the convicted man were found in the victim's vagina. Despite this, O.A. claimed that it was because he had had consensual sex with the victim days before. Something she denies.
The defendant also alleged that the victim voluntarily entered the bathroom. To respond to this argument, the Chamber relied on a ruling from the previous day. "The relative passivity of the victim, in that she does not scream or raise the alarm, is not an obstacle to the absence of consent," the judicial ruling highlighted.
He also added that the victim was under the influence of alcohol, and that her "capacity to react was greatly diminished." This situation also serves to "increase the penalty within the punitive range" towards the convicted man, according to the TSJC.
On the other hand, the defendant requested that his expulsion from the national territory after having served two-thirds of the prison sentence not be included in the judicial ruling. As he is a natural person from Morocco, without legal residence in Spain and sentenced to six years in prison, the law resolves that they can be returned to their country of origin.
However, the Court has highlighted that in practice, although it does not uphold the appeal, this expulsion "is not an effective measure" because he can re-enter Spanish territory with another identity.
In addition, the convicted man did not pay the victim the 1,000 euros in compensation for the medical expenses incurred as a result of the events.
