The Investigating Court Number 2 of Arrecife has sent to provisional prison a man arrested for the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl, whom he forced to enter his home, located in the San Francisco Javier neighborhood of the capital.
The events occurred at about 9:30 p.m. last Tuesday, March 15, when the minor was heading home and was allegedly approached by the defendant, 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 to eat at Mc Donalds.
When she refused, he said "if she was silly" and then "grabbed her by one of her arms" and made her enter the building, then getting her to go up to his home. In her statement to the police, the minor stated that "she did not struggle or offer any resistance because of fear." "She was more worried about getting out of there alive than anything else," explained the victim, who detailed that she "held back" even "the urge to cry."
"Clear, congruent and unequivocal" statement
In his order ordering provisional imprisonment, Magistrate Jerónimo Alonso points out that the statement made by the minor to the police is "clear, precise and congruent, as well as complete and unequivocal." In it, she recounted in detail what happened first on the sofa in the living room, where the touching began, and later in the bedroom, where he took off her clothes and the alleged rape was consummated. Afterwards, he let her go to the bathroom and when she was getting dressed, he came in and got in the shower, at which point she took the opportunity to flee the house.
"In addition to providing an account of a possible situation, he properly locates the incident both in space and time, narrates the assault in sufficient detail and provides elements of peripheral corroboration of his testimony," adds the judge, who for the time being has not made the minor appear in court to avoid "revictimisation". Thus, pending an appearance to be carried out in the presence of psychological experts, he has based his decision on the statement already made by the victim to the police and also on her account during the medical examination to which she was subjected at the Molina Orosa Hospital.
In this regard, the magistrate adds that both statements correspond, "which produces a persistent incrimination of the investigated party" by the victim. In addition, he adds other evidence provided, such as the WhatsApp messages that the minor sent to a friend after the events, telling him what happened. "They are presented as an element of peripheral corroboration of importance, both for their immediacy and for their content," the magistrate stresses.
It took three days to tell her mother and report it
As for the complaint, it was filed three days after the events, as initially the minor did not dare to tell her mother. The first thing she did when she left the alleged aggressor's home was to go to a square in the neighborhood, where she called two friends to tell them what had happened. Both unsuccessfully recommended that she tell her mother, and the next day her best friend also did so, with whom she shared what she had experienced.
Finally, it was that friend who told her own mother, and she in turn told the victim's mother, who after talking to her daughter immediately went to the police. They told her the steps to follow, starting with that medical examination and the statement at the police station, as well as the delivery of the clothes she was wearing when the alleged sexual assault occurred.
The medical examination did not find any external injuries, which is consistent with the minor's statement, but it did find a "possible superficial tear" in the vagina. In addition, the report warns of the "immediate psychological responses", such as "feelings of guilt and shame".
Risk of flight and other criminal records
"With the data available up to the present time, there are sufficient and reasonable grounds to suspect that the defendant is criminally responsible for the crime under investigation," the magistrate concludes in his order.
In addition, he considers that there is an "evident risk of evading the action of justice" that justifies his provisional imprisonment, among other things because of the seriousness of the crime and the penalty that could be requested. In this regard, he recalls that sexual assault on minors under 16 years of age is punishable by imprisonment for between 12 and 15 years, so he insists that there is a "risk of flight", given that the investigated party is not Spanish.
He also stresses that J.A.E.Q., of Colombian nationality, "has a criminal record for various serious offenses committed in Spanish territory and lacks administrative authorization to reside in Spain." To this he adds that "the protection of the minor victim who has been subjected to a recent violent and notorious act also requires that the provisional imprisonment of the investigated party be ordered", in order to "avoid the risk that he may again attack any of the legal rights of the victim or disturb her tranquility and stability".
