The Superior Court of Justice of Canarias (TSJC) has confirmed the conviction imposed by the Provincial Court of Las Palmas on a resident of Lanzarote for sexually assaulting a minor of 14 years of age, to whom he supplied five pills of the anxiolytic Bromazepam so that "she would relax", in order to annul her will and facilitate the assault.
The Criminal Chamber of the TSJC has dismissed the appeal filed by the defense and has fully confirmed the sentence handed down in due course by the Sixth Section of the Court, which imposed nine years and six months of prison on the accused for a crime of sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age.
The Court considers it proven that the convicted person provided the victim with five tablets of that psychoactive substance, insisting that she take them, which caused her "drowsiness and a state of semi-unconsciousness", a situation "sought by the accused to be able to carry out his objective". According to the proven facts, once the minor was under those effects, the convicted person sexually assaulted her in a dwelling in the municipality of San Bartolomé, in Lanzarote, taking advantage of the fact that the victim could barely resist.
The resolution underlines that the administration of those drugs was not an accessory element, but a mechanism aimed at "annulling the victim's will", a circumstance that criminally aggravates the facts and which the Court considers fully proven by the minor's statement, peripheral testimonies, and the expert evidence produced.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court maintains the prohibition of approaching the victim within 500 meters and of communicating with her for 15 years, as well as a supervised release measure for six years once the sentence is served. It also confirms the payment of compensation of 6,000 euros for moral damages.