A 3-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy were summoned this Thursday in the Courts of Arrecife, to ratify their respective complaints as victims of alleged sexual abuse. However, both had to leave without being able to appear before the magistrate, due to the absence of a psychologist.
The island does not have professionals hired for these cases and it is the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Las Palmas who sends them when the need arises, at least in theory. In practice, the Lanzarote courts are experiencing another reality, with delays of months.
In the case of the Investigating Court Number 1 of Arrecife, it requested a psychologist two months ago, when it received the complaint regarding one of the children and set the date of the appearance. However, despite the fact that the magistrate reiterated the request, recalling the "urgent fulfillment of the request for psychological expertise", the response has not arrived until this Thursday.
"We inform the judicial body that the deficit of forensic psychologists in our staff makes it difficult to attend to these requests with more diligence", states the letter sent by the director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, which depends on the Government of the Canary Islands.
In the letter, dated June 9, the director emphasizes that "the hiring of personnel is the responsibility of the General Directorate of Relations with the Administration of Justice", blaming this department for the shortage of staff. In addition, she points out that "recently a collaboration agreement has been reached" with a company, Godoy Consultores y Auditores, to provide psychologists to carry out this type of tests.
However, she does not give an estimated date of when a professional will be assigned to be able to process these two complaints. In this regard, she only points out that it will be "as soon as possible".
Meanwhile, the two children who were summoned this Thursday have had to leave without being able to testify, and their complaints, like those of other minors who are in the same situation on the island, will have to continue waiting to be processed as established by law.
What the law says
After the modification approved last year, the Minors Law establishes that when a person under 14 years of age must intervene as a witness in a judicial procedure for certain crimes, such as sexual assault, a hearing will be held with the minor that serves as "pre-constituted evidence", to avoid having to testify again in case the case goes to trial.
"This process will be carried out with all the guarantees of accessibility and necessary support", the Law states, which also mentions the presence of "psychosocial teams" to "support the Court".
In the case of the psychologist, his presence is necessary to assist the minor at the time of the declaration, but also to determine the possible veracity of his story. And this is key for the investigating judge to adopt the measures he deems appropriate with respect to the person denounced, which may even lead to a provisional prison order.
However, the first of these two complaints was filed two months ago, and so far it has not even been possible to take a statement from the child, nor is there a date to do so.
The person who filed that complaint was the current foster family of the minor, who is 8 years old and is in a situation of vulnerability. When taking care of the child, his foster parents saw signs that something had happened, until apparently he confirmed that he had been a victim of sexual abuse, allegedly at the hands of a man with whom his biological father left him on occasions.
Without having been able to take a statement from the child yet, the magistrate issued a restraining order as a precautionary measure, which only affects the man who allegedly committed the sexual abuse on the minor.
In addition, she set the appearance of the child for this Thursday, in order to continue the investigation and decide if other additional measures were necessary, but she had to suspend it because the psychologist she had requested did not arrive.
The second complaint, with an alleged victim of 3 years old
The second complaint was registered in the same Court a few weeks later, and the magistrate decided to set the same date for the appearance, since she had already requested a psychologist for this day. However, it has also had to be canceled, when the 3-year-old child was already in the Palace of Justice.
In this case, the defendant is the father of the minor and the complainant was the mother, who accuses her ex-partner of having sexually assaulted the child.
"How is a judge going to make decisions without even being able to listen to the victim?", ask sources from the judicial world, who consider the situation that is being experienced in Lanzarote unsustainable.
Regarding that second child, the judge also ended up adopting a precautionary measure, suspending the father's visitation regime.
In addition to the difficulty of adopting measures without even having the direct account of the victim and without the first opinion of an expert, there is also another problem: the age of some of the children, who, being very young, could lose memories if their statements continue to be delayed.
In addition to the 3-year-old child who was supposed to appear this Thursday, there is at least another 2-year-old who is also pending to testify, for another complaint that has been filed more recently.
