Almost four years have passed since a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped after being accosted on a street in Arrecife and dragged into a house. The Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas had planned to try J.A.E.Q. this week, accused of committing a crime of sexual assault against the teenager and who was released on bail two years ago. However, the trial was finally suspended after the court failed to contact the accused on repeated occasions.
This very Monday, the victim's mother was informed that the trial could not be held because the accused is **missing**. As reported by the Court's Communication Office to *La Voz*, a **search and arrest** warrant has been issued against the accused to try to locate him, which is why the trial cannot proceed.
This news comes as a new setback for the family, who have waited since reporting the events in March 2022 until this 2026, two months before the four-year mark, to be able to judicially settle the case.
Forced to go up to her home from a building entrance
The reported events took place around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15, when the minor was on her way home and was allegedly approached by the accused, 41 years old. According to her complaint, J.A.E.Q. began by asking her "what her name was" and "where she was going," and then offered to "take a ride in the car" and go eat at McDonald's. The minor refused to go with him, but the man allegedly grabbed her arm and forced her to enter the building and go up to his home, where she was allegedly raped.
Despite the fact that the Court of Instruction number 2 of Arrecife decreed in 2022 the provisional imprisonment of the accused due to the risk of flight, as he had a criminal record, and to preserve the integrity of the victim, two years later the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court decreed his immediate release, with the obligation to appear every 15 days and with the prohibition of approaching the victim. Now, the accused has disappeared.For her part, the minor has suffered different psychological sequelae, as well as different suicide attempts. At the same time, her mother publicly reported that when the accused was released on bail, he loitered around the neighborhood where the minor lives, despite having a restraining order.
