The defendant accused of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Arrecife in 2016 has pleaded not guilty during the trial held this Thursday before the First Section of the Provincial Court. Thus, his defense has requested his free acquittal, although the Prosecutor's Office has maintained the request for 12 years in prison for the defendant.
The minor has testified separately and behind closed doors in the Gesell room that the Arrecife Courts building has had since last April, in order to guarantee her privacy and avoid visual confrontation with the accused, so her statement has not been public.
In his indictment, the Prosecutor's Office maintained that the accused, Fernan Wallens Daza, maintained a "friendship" with the minor's father, which he allegedly took advantage of to abuse her on several occasions. The first episode, according to the Public Prosecutor, occurred in September 2016, when the defendant was 59 years old and "was at a family reunion" at the victim's home. There, according to the prosecutor, "taking advantage of the special relationship of trust he had with the parent and the minor's family, taking advantage of the fact that at one point he was alone with her" and "motivated by the desire to sexually satisfy himself, he touched her chest under her shirt."
Days later, Fernan Wallens was left in charge of the girl and her brother and, when both were at home, the accused asked the minor "to give him a hug." "At that moment, he put his hand under her shirt, touching her chest, to which the minor responded by separating from the defendant," the Prosecutor's Office maintains, which states that "moments later," when the defendant was "playing with the mobile phone and the minor approached to see the game, Fernan Wallens Daza told her to sit on his legs to be more comfortable, and at that moment, motivated by the desire to satisfy his sexual appetite, he began to touch the minor, putting his hand through her pants and panties and inserting a finger into her vagina."
The defense has requested his acquittal based on a genetic report
The defendant, however, has pleaded not guilty during the trial, denying that he abused the minor. His defense has requested his acquittal based on a genetic report that he considers "categorical" and that, according to it, concludes that DNA samples taken from the victim of the alleged aggressor are male, but do not match the defendant.
The Prosecutor's Office, for its part, has ratified the request for 12 years in prison by accepting the minor's testimony as valid. The Public Prosecutor's Office also asks that Fernan Wallens compensate the victim with 30,000 euros "for the moral damages caused" and that a restraining order be imposed on him for ten years. Also, in the event that he is convicted, he demands that he be placed on supervised release for 8 years once he leaves prison.
