The TS ratifies the 20-year prison sentence for a father for sexual abuse of his two daughters

The Supreme Court has ratified the 20-year prison sentence that the Provincial Court of Las Palmas imposed on a man for sexually abusing his two adopted daughters. These abuses lasted for years and since the girls were only 8 and 10 years old, as reported by the Prosecutor's Office and later considered proven by the Court. Now the Supreme Court also does so, which has dismissed the appeal for cassation filed by Fermín B.S. and also imposes the payment of procedural costs.

That ruling of July 9, 2015, ratified by this ruling of the Second Chamber of the Criminal Court of the Supreme Court, sentenced this man for two continued crimes of sexual abuse, imposing a sentence of ten years in prison for each one. In addition, the ruling established that he should compensate each of his daughters, who in both cases continue to suffer significant psychological consequences, with 60,000 euros for moral damages. And, finally, it established the prohibition of "approaching the victims, their home and any place frequented by them, at a distance of less than 500 meters, as well as communicating" with them "by any means" for 15 years.

The convicted man, for whom the judge ordered imprisonment in July 2015 after the Prosecutor's Office requested it due to risk of flight, appealed the ruling based on five grounds, including several violations of the law, "error in the assessment of the evidence" and, especially, the violation of the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence. For this last one, Fermín B.S. alleged that "the testimony of the witnesses is full of contradictions and there are no other corroborating evidence", the Supreme Court ruling states. The high court, however, considers that his appeal "has no place" and dismisses it.

It also emphasizes that "the sufficiency of the victim's statement to undermine the presumption of innocence in crimes against sexual freedom is very reiterated" in that Chamber, "so we are obliged to repeat, once again, a jurisprudential doctrine that is already very consolidated".

A childhood full of "abuse"

The two girls were adopted in 1994, when they were 8 and 6 years old, by the convicted man and his wife, along with a brother who was then 7 years old. Already at the time of adoption, the three minors were "in a situation of helplessness, for having suffered sexual abuse in their family of origin", the Court ruling states. Two years later, Fermín B.S. began to force the minors repeatedly and very frequently, according to the sentence, and subjected them to his abuse for more than a decade. One of the minors suffered them until the age of 23 and the other until she decided to leave the family home upon reaching the age of majority.

On some occasions, this already convicted man even abused both at the same time, "in the same act", the ruling stated. Currently both are approaching their thirties and continue to suffer various psychological pathologies due to these events.

Fermín B.G., who is now 62 years old, began abusing the older sister, when she was 10 years old. "Shortly after, the touching became vaginal penetrations without a condom, almost daily, until she turned 17, at which time she began to not accede to her parent's wishes and refuses penetration", the court ruling stated. The sexual contacts to which she was forced then became "touching and oral sex", until the young woman turned 23 years old. To this day, she suffers from a "chronic post-traumatic stress disorder associated with severe depressive symptoms" due to the abuse to which she was subjected.

In the case of her sister, who is two years younger, this man began to perpetrate the "same acts" when she was only 8 years old. The ruling of the Court explained that "the first time" was "one night when the defendant entered the minors' bedroom, with her older sister sleeping in the other bed and went to the little girl telling her that he was not going to scold her for having failed an exam".

That night was the first of a series of "very frequent" abuses, "without being able to specify how many", which ceased only with her departure from the house. As in the case of the older daughter, the abuses occurred "first in the room that the minor shared with her sister and then in her own room, although they also occurred on occasions in other places in the house, such as the living room, when her mother was not in the house". As a result, the younger sister currently suffers from "post-traumatic stress disorder".