Salesian priest Segundo Cousido Vieites pleaded last week Going to prison to say goodbye to his motherThe benefit provided by the ‘apud acta’ through his lawyer was disclosed in nearby legal sources. one of the cases sexual abuse more media It impressed six underage children who innocently trusted this teacher who ran the Castrelo camp (Cambados) and this teacher who led the religious community’s pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 2019.
This was the last “letter” approved by the High Court of Justice in May last year, in which the priest avoided jail time to serve the 32.5-year sentence handed down to him by the Fourth Chamber of the Pontevedra Court in 2021. Galicia (TSXG), eventful decision source stream he wanted to use it to his advantage by taking advantage of the gaps opened by the so-called ‘only yes is yes’ law in order to both ensure the annulment of the penalty and to obtain a reduction in the penalty.
emergency search warrant
All alarms were silenced when Segundo Cousido escaped the Court’s final prison order on February 23, when he was given the first three days of his sentence to serve his sentence, ten months after his sentence had become final. sentences for six crimes of sexual abuse against minors.
Now the fugitive had already deftly escaped the prison regime, and in fact only spent nine months in makeshift prison before the trial in Pontevedra in July 2021.
Sources familiar with the case understand that some affection or respect may have been shown to him for being religious, and this would facilitate his release on bail once he presents a medical report proving it. a disease“pseudo asthma”, that will make it especially vulnerable to epidemic covid if there was an epidemic among the prison population.
prone to serious illness
When he appeared at trial, he maintained that conditional release regime, although his passport had been withdrawn before. thus limiting your freedom of movement national or at least outside European territory.
But as he did not go to prison this week, alarms were set in and security forces and bodies were called upon to locate the fugitive in an indictment released this week.
However escape is not the only hypothesis He was taken under investigation after learning of the court’s immediate arrest warrant.
Fear for his integrity
lawyer Luis Lawrence RavenSegundo Cousido, who served in the legal letter about the compensation that can correspond to the religious community to which he belongs, gave a statement yesterday. the anxiety that this disappearance is causing you. “It was a big surprise, I found out through the press this morning,” he said yesterday. I felt a little pain Because of what could happen to him”, the lawyer admits in a short phone call. “I hope this is not due to this. serious personal determinationOn behalf of humanity, of course, it affects me,” he added.
in the sources sales area Without specifying more, they also acknowledge a certain “fear” of what might happen to the priest of Cambadés.
His convictions were recorded in 2019 when the priest in charge of caring for them at night reported that six young children had touched them during a school camp celebration related to a pilgrimage to Compostela. She was also accused by another adolescent she was with. shared watching a match alone Champions LeagueAs set out in the Fourth Division judgment of the Pontevedra Trial.
Report of the facts
The complaint was made at the time in the Cambados Court, where the case was being investigated, and statements were taken from both the person being investigated and the victims, who at first seemed “in shock”. because it happened to someone superior and also had “friends”as reflected in the sentence given one year later.
And the facts were so serious that in the court sentence ” supremacy from their profession”, as “religious teacher” and “the friendship that unites them and goes further than the teacher-student relationship”.
lewd acts with minors
Proven facts, the priest in any case, “touching the genitals” among minors, “usually on clothes, but sometimes inside”.
And in this sense, the actions taken “lead no doubt, just keep secret – to take advantage of the night hours and the sleep of minors – but for acts of an unequivocally sexual nature”, emphasizes the sentence upheld by the Galician high court.
During the hearing at Pontevedra Court, the defense convince the court that the acts may have been committed by someone else “and that minors made mistakes in their identities.” Nor did this allegation serve to exonerate him.
TSXG denied the request for a reduction of sentence in enforcement of the “Yes-only law is yes” provision.
One of the last resources that the pastor, whose sentence was finalized by the decision of TSXG, to extend his stay out of prison, was looking for a wife. sentence reduction based on the new term Organic Law on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, popularly known as Only yes law is yes will be reviewed soon. lawyer Francis Lakecarrying out special proceedings on behalf of Friends of the Galicia FoundationLike many others involved in months of lawsuits, he admits he was surprised by this defense statement. delay of the order to enter the prison. The lawyer emphasizes that the priest was convicted of committing a crime. sexual abuse, A crime that does not amount to a reduction in punishment, unlike minor sexual assaults under Article 178, as resolved by the TSXG. lago, 32.5 years in prison When imposed by the court, the defendant should have served only slightly more than half, i.e. 16.5 years, since the Law states that the accused will serve only three times the most serious, i.e. the 5.5 years stipulated for the defendants. three offenses of continuous harassment. The fact that he didn’t go to prison “will hurt him tomorrow because initially unable to receive prison benefits He will be entitled when he has completed a quarter of his sentence”.