The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Alicante has sentenced a man to 22 years and four months in prison for two continuous offences of sexual abuse against minors under the age of 16 involving penetration. The offences were committed against two daughters of the woman who was his partner at the time. The sentence also includes absolute disqualification during the period of the penalty, with a maximum prison term set at 20 years.
According to the ruling dated 12th May, the court has also ordered ten years of supervised release to be served after his prison term. Furthermore, the man is banned from communicating with the two victims or coming within 500 metres of them, their homes, workplaces, or any other place they frequent, for a period of 16 years.
The court has ordered the man to pay a total compensation of 180,000 euro to the victims—specifically 80,000 euro to one and 100,000 euro to the other—for the damages and moral harm caused. The ruling notes that quantifying such moral harm is difficult, and even these reasonable sums cannot adequately repair the suffering the victims experienced and continue to endure.
Additionally, the man has received a six-year disqualification from exercising parental rights, guardianship, wardship, or fostering, alongside a 20-year ban from any profession or activity, paid or unpaid, involving regular and direct contact with minors.
The two sisters arrived in Spain when they were ten and eight years old to live with their mother and the convicted man, whom she had married. The court found that the man maintained a relationship of trust and superiority similar to that of a father, as the victims usually called him “dad,” and he accompanied them to school and medical appointments.
Aware of his privileged position to influence the minors, the man began the abusive behaviour. He managed to keep them from telling anyone for a long time by claiming that the sexual practices “were love” or a way to show “affection”, causing the victims to normalise the actions.
The abuse against one victim occurred between the summer of 2012 and at least 2017, when she was between 11 and 17 years old. The abuse against the second victim took place between the summer of 2012 and Christmas 2022-2023, when she was between nine and 19 years old.
The court highlighted the significant psychological impact and profound moral damage caused, noting that the victims moved to Spain hoping to build a family but instead faced prolonged abuse at a very young age, which severely impacted their personal development. The ruling also points out that the pain caused to one of the daughters led to multiple self-harm attempts recorded in her medical history, which were clearly related to the events.
The convicted man was arrested on 7th January 2023 and held in pre-trial detention from 8th January until 13th February 2023, when the measure was lifted and replaced with a 500-metre restraining order and communication ban.
Other Articles
