The Investigating Court No. 1 of Arrecife agreed on December 20, 2007, to the provisional dismissal and filing of the complaint against two workers of the Lanzarote lodging resource for abused women, which María del Carmen, a resident in the house for three months, filed at the beginning of November. María del Carmen reported having been coerced and threatened by the workers, until they moved her to a pension, where she lived alone for a month, until Social Services placed her in a new house on the Peninsula.
The investigating judge who has carried out the proceedings understands that, after requesting reports from the Cabildo, he finds "no action by the center's workers worthy of criminal reproach" and considers it "obvious that there has been a problem of adaptation of the complainant to the center and its internal regulations". The judge also considers that neither the threats nor the coercion reported "appear even indicatively proven", which is why he determines the provisional dismissal of the accusations, although there is the possibility of appealing this decision within three days.
María del Carmen, who is currently in another shelter on the Peninsula, says that she does not know anything officially. "I have not received any type of communication," she says, so she understands that "the three-day period to appeal has not yet been met." María del Carmen will decide whether to appeal the judge's order when she officially learns of the dismissal, although she feels "sorry for the women who do not have the support of their families and to whom the same thing could happen".
For his part, the Councilor for Social Services, Joaquín Caraballo, explains that conflicts in coexistence within the shelter "occur due to friction, because coexistence is not easy", but usually "do not materialize in complaints".
