The second section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas is judging from this Monday until Thursday a civil guard, accused of sexual assault, habitual mistreatment, injuries and threats against his partner, in events that occurred in Lanzarote and Tenerife. The Prosecutor's Office is asking for 24 years in prison for the accused, José María A.B., assigned to the Traffic group of the Civil Guard in La Laguna. The trial is being held this week behind closed doors in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The Prosecutor's Office explains in its indictment that since October 2006, this agent maintained a sentimental relationship "with discontinuous periods of coexistence." During this relationship, the accused maintained "a position of dominance over his partner", who suffered "situations of humiliation, control, request for exclusivity and dependence to physical aggressions". As a consequence of the defendant's conduct, the woman suffers from "depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder", according to the prosecutor.
During the year 2007, the couple maintained a "continuous" relationship through Messenger, since the accused lived in Tenerife and his partner in Lanzarote. However, they also had "periodic meetings" on one island and another. One of these alleged sexual assaults occurred in Lanzarote, specifically in a hotel in Costa Teguise.
"He forced her to have relations and left her locked in the room"
The prosecutor affirms that on August 2, 2007, the agent and his girlfriend stayed at this hotel. During the early morning of August 2 to 3, the couple had an argument, after which the accused kicked the woman out of the room, although he later told her to come back in. According to the indictment, the Civil Guard agent gave "a slap" to his partner, who fell on the bed.
Then, "with the purpose of satisfying his sexual desires", the agent "forced her to have vaginal and anal sex, after which he took off her clothes and left her locked in the room for a while".
Another of these episodes took place in August 2007 at the agent's home in La Laguna. The prosecutor maintains that, after a new discussion, the agent took the woman "in his arms" and "took her out of the house by force, hitting her against the door frame". The affected woman chipped a rib and went to the doctor. However, she did not file a complaint because "the accused convinced her by telling her that she had started the fight and that she had everything to lose".
"He slapped her five or six times"
Another discussion occurred in April 2008, when she told him that she had been with another man. "The defendant, being at his home in La Laguna, slapped her five or six times, and left her locked in the house until he returned from work, at which point he kicked her out of the house by force", indicates the prosecutor, who also affirms that in this case there is no record that she needed medical assistance.
Months later, in August 2008, the couple was in Tenerife when she received a message from a friend. According to the prosecutor, this fact led to a discussion "due to jealousy", so the woman chose to pack her suitcase and leave the home. The accused kept his partner's cell phone and kept it in his pants pocket. The affected woman tried to recover it and he "grabbed her hand tightly, twisted her wrist and hit her forearm". As she insisted, the agent "gave her a strong push" and the woman hit the television, which fell to the ground, according to the indictment.
After that, the woman decided to leave but when she opened the door "the defendant gave her a strong blow to the hand". The affected woman went to the hospital three days later, where they found several bruises. Faced with this situation, she decided to file a complaint, but later withdrew it "pressured by the defendant", according to the Prosecutor's Office.
"You don't know the power a civil guard has"
According to the indictment, as a result of this complaint, the defendant called his partner several times "with the intention of causing her psychological damage". Specifically, the agent told her: "You don't know where you've gotten yourself into... this could cost me the withdrawal of the weapon... my job... you don't know the power a civil guard has... I have many friends and witnesses who can testify against you... you're no good as a woman inside or outside the bed... fix yourself up, you look horrible... your appearance is not adequate... my friends are much better than you... you're no good as a mother".
Faced with this, the woman filed a complaint again, but again withdrew the complaint due to "the defendant's pressure". Contact between the couple broke down for a while, but on October 10, 2008 he asked her again to resume the relationship and she accepted.
"She resisted with all her might, scratching and biting him"
After this return of the couple, another episode occurred in Tenerife, in December 2008. Both argued and the agent asked his girlfriend to leave the house. The prosecutor explains in his indictment that she was angry so she took a watch that her partner had given her and he responded by "throwing all the clothes on the floor". The woman finally threw the watch out the window.
Because of these events, there was a "struggle between both", who shouted at each other and said "all kinds of insults and hit each other". He had just had surgery, so she got scared and called 112 although an ambulance never came. After that, a new discussion arose and the accused threw his partner to the ground, "where with the purpose of satisfying his sexual desires, he penetrated her successively through the vagina, the anus and again the vagina, while she resisted with all her might, scratching and biting him", maintains the Prosecutor's Office.
Next, the agent locked himself in his bedroom with the cell phones, also hers, and called the Civil Guard "reporting an attempted homicide by her towards him". The injuries suffered by the woman during this alleged sexual assault took 10 days to heal.
The accused agent was in prison for these events from December 11, 2008 to July 19, 2010. The Prosecutor's Office is requesting a total of 24 years in prison for this member of the Civil Guard, as well as "absolute" disqualification for the exercise of his profession in the Benemérita. Likewise, he requests that he compensate the affected woman with 5,000 euros.
