Eduardo P., a member of the Barcelona Colla de Castellers for 20 years, admitted in the lawsuit filed against him this Monday that he sexually assaulted nine young members of this organization while giving them a massage. This confession and the payment of compensation of 54,000 euros to the victims led the prosecution to reduce the sentence request from 39 years and 2 months to 10.5 years, following the agreement made between the defense and the prosecution. imprisonment, fine, disqualification from practicing a profession involving minors, and five years’ probation. However, since the upper limit of the sentence for any of the crimes attributed to him (10 in total) is one year and four months imprisonment due to the change in the law, he cannot enter a prison only if the answer is yes. The defendant’s lawyer will ask for the sentence to be postponed when the sentence is announced, but according to the sources consulted, the prosecutor’s office will not object to this.
“I want you to ask for forgiveness,” repeated four of the victims. Courtroom of the Barcelona Tribunal, they confronted the defendants, resulting in screams and moments of tension; some of them faced ‘excasteller’ who were temporarily expelled from ‘kolla’ upon complaint of girls. No one prevented these young women, who could not hold back their tears and did not understand what was happening, from leaving the main door of the courtroom and meeting the defendants face to face, even though they had left by the order of the court. She took part behind a screen during the brief statement from the women affected. “What happened?” they repeated, one after another, in tears. After the confusion, the prosecutor handling the case invited them to the prosecutor’s office to explain what happened.
He invited them to his house
Eduardo P. sat in the defendant’s chair in front of the court. His questioning lasted only a few minutes and he acknowledged that something had happened there. Touches made between 2014-2019Nine victims were minors. This colla technician took advantage of the trust of families and girls and young people aged 7 to 17, inviting dozens of them to his home after rehearsals or before ‘colla’ performances. The prosecution says the man knew how to give massages and also charmed and “persuaded” them, telling them it was candy, jelly beans or their favorite foods.
With this excuse, he gave them massages so they could sleep better and relieve their muscle pain. So he started touching or rubbing their ass, breasts, and in one case, the genital area. “He touched my nipples and breasts“.” “She reached her hand towards my penis.” “He touched my ass, I saw him masturbate.” “He touched me just above my ass.” With these words, the four victims of the ‘goalkeeper’ were commemorated. Confirming that they wanted compensation for the psychological damage suffered, Eduardo P., according to the indictment, called for the children to stay in their underpants and shirts, without bras and trousers, in order to “be more comfortable”. “, a situation in which he took the opportunity to look at them and touch their anatomy “more easily.” Similarly, when he knew the girls were showering, he entered the bathroom without warning.
Abuses
In the case of the first young woman, she entered the castellera ‘colla’ at the age of 6 and lived in the defendant’s house for three months while her mother was travelling. Between 2014 and 2017, the man touched her nipple and vagina at least twice while “massaging” her on the couch. Between October and November 2014, when the young woman turned 18, he caressed her wrist and made her place her arm over his erect penis. The girl pretended to be asleep and changed her position.
In relation to three other minors between 2014 and 2018, He touched the sides of her breasts, Shirt top or bottom and ass. One of them once told him that he didn’t like her touching her ass and the ‘keeper’ said that was how the massage was done. On one occasion, returning from a performance in Valls in June 2018, the defendant invited minors to spend the night at his home. He massaged them and eventually touched them, according to the prosecutor. At dawn, one of the girls woke up moaning and saw how the man was masturbating while watching them sleeping in their shirt and panties. Finally, between 2015 and June 2019, together with three other minors, also under the pretext of a massage, the defendant allegedly slid his hand towards their buttocks and touched them through their panties. He caressed one of them near her breasts.