The penal reform implemented last April to put an end to the “undesirable effects” of the so-called ‘yes means yes’ law does not prevent sentence reductions from having to continue to be applied to cases already tried and sentenced —the latest official balance sheet, of last November 24, increased the reductions to 1,233 cases and the releases to 126–. The Supreme Court has just applied one of them to the brutal rape suffered in the summer of 2020 by a girl with a disability in Zaragoza, and now his attacker sees his sentence reduced from 13 to 9 years in prison.
The sentence, to which you have had access THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAIN, of the Prensa Ibérica group, modifies the one issued a year ago by the Superior Court of Justice of Aragonwhich sentenced a citizen of Ecuadorian nationality to 13 years in prison for crimes of sexual abuse and injuries to a 22-year-old girl with intellectual disabilities in a Hostel in Zaragoza.
The story of proven facts is brutal, and its protagonist is a young woman with a 48% disability and a “complex gait disorder” that affects her mobility. On the day of the attack, the girl I was with a 12 year old friend. when he met the convicted man in a park, whom he knew from having chatted previously.
Although the minor advised her friend against paying attention to that man, he acted “aware of his vulnerability and with a lascivious spirit” and invited her to a nearby boarding house, where she occasionally went with other women. There he raped her “so abruptly and intensely” that he caused a 10-centimeter vaginal tear.
The sentence also details that the aggressor ordered the girl to put on a sock hers in the vagina to stop the bleeding. Afterwards she got her on and paid for a bus ride, although the young woman later got off to go to a nearby bar to clean herself, from where she notified the emergency services. She was taken to a hospital where She was admitted given the severity of the injuries suffered.
Conviction and expulsion
The Provincial Court of Zaragoza, in a resolution later confirmed by the Superior Court of Aragon, sentenced the aggressor to 13 years in prison and also imposed 8 years of probation after serving this sentence, in addition to prohibiting him from approaching the victim for 14 years.
Likewise, the court agreed to partially serve this sentence in our country and to deport this individual to Ecuador when he serves two-thirds of the sentence. Furthermore, he must compensate his victim with 20,000 euros for the injuries suffered, their consequences and the moral damages suffered.
The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court rejects the arguments of the defense appeal considering that, in this case, the victim’s statements were confirmed with “powerful and indubitable elements of conviction such as the biological remains found and the objectivity of the injuries suffered.” He adds that the weaknesses that the appeal attributes to the victim’s statements are easily explained by her mental disability.
“The Court, in a decision endorsed by the Superior Court of Justice, has had ample proof and has rationally evaluated it“, affirms the high court, which emphasizes that “we cannot speak of either a lack of evidence or insufficient evidence.” The alternative hypothesis “that the appellant invents” – aggression by a third party – is analyzed and denied due to its incompatibility with objective data highlighted in both sentences, he adds.
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Regarding the application of the reform initially promoted by the law comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, the Supreme Court indicates that the penalty would range between seven and fifteen years in prison, which ““It is clear that it is more beneficial than a prison sentence of between twelve and fifteen years,” which was the one that was applied in its day to this case. He adds, however, that the reasons given in the lower court ruling “show factors that determine a singular seriousness of the conduct.”
“This observation advises not going to the minimum possible, but rather, weighing these factors -injuries, vulnerability of the victim, use of violence...-, raise it somewhat, although remaining in the lower half,” adds the sentence. For this reason, it ends up setting the sentence at nine years in prison, to which one adds the sentence of special disqualification “for any profession, trade or activities, whether paid or not, that entails regular and direct contact with minors for a period of five years, once the custodial sentence has been completed”.