ORn harassment targeting a minor and resulting in a conviction. The head of the Vigo Criminal Court No. 2 sentenced a man to 13 months in prison for abusing a teenager. repeated sexual harassment telephone. The victim even recorded some of these calls and started talking to him to find out his identity. Residents of a municipality in the Vigo region both turned up. they knew each other for belonging to the same rock and for their love of riding. The person who has already been convicted must pay the young woman 5,000 euros in compensation, moreover, who has not been able to approach or communicate in any way for two and a half years. moral damage causing it: the victim saw that it was “severely affecting his daily life” as a result of what had happened, afraid of leaving home alonereduced his academic performance, suffered from stomach ailments and suffered anxiety crisis This forced him to be hospitalized.
The events date back to August 2020. In that month, the accused started calling the minor’s cell phone repeatedlyshe hides her identity, moans. At first, the young man immediately hung up as soon as he heard this. However, she later started to answer these calls and meet with her abuser “to find out the identity of the person who called her”. Without revealing anything else about her, the man said they knew each other and asked the victim questions to find out where he was at the time or where he was going.
offers
But as the days pass He started making sexual offers.l, using obscene and derogatory expressions. At the end of that August, when his identity was revealed, the convicted man apologized to the victim and said that, according to the proven facts of the sentence, he would no longer bother her. But months later, in November of the same year, joined a group What’s up? Also where was the youngIn the “great discomfort and nervousness” that led to a crisis of anxiety in mid-December, for this He was treated at the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital Emergency Department. of Vigo.
For the judge, there is no doubt about the guilt of the accused. Along with the statement of “fully reliable” by the injured party, Another important piece of evidence is the recording of several phone calls.It is run by the young woman involved in the forensic procedure. For those who were older, the magistrate valued publishing testimonies of his mother, the counselor of the training center where he was studying at the time, and the psychologist who assisted him.
Sentence
“A serious change in the life of the young woman”
“In this case, the elements of the crime of harassment overlap. By calling the victim many times, the defendant concealed his identity, groaned, pronounced the name of the minor, and addressed the victim with obscene, rude and insulting expressions in other calls. And from this was derived a drastic change in the daily life of the young woman that transcended mere boredom.
A little victim who is more “vulnerable”
“The moral damage has been more than accredited. The systematic actions of the follower forced the victim to change his daily actions. She stopped going out alone, had problems sleeping and eating, became more withdrawn, and had concentration problems affecting her work. […] A small, developing adolescent, which expresses greater vulnerability”
burden of proof
Along with the burden of proof of the situation to which the adolescent is exposed, the judge deepens the sentence in which the defendant’s behavior meets the characteristics of the offense of harassment in Article 172 ter of the Penal Code, requiring the following: The harassment is “repetitive”, “repeated over time”, and “a drastic change” in the daily life of the victim. All this happens in this case. “The defendant repeatedly called the victim, concealed his identity, groaned, pronounced the minor’s name, and addressed him with obscene, vulgar and insulting expressions on other calls; you are faced with persistent and repetitive behaviors,” the government added, adding that this situation seriously affects the daily life of the adolescent. Another issue that the magistrate insists on is that being a minor is a serious plus. more “vulnerable” and “fragile” than an adult.
‘following’, an obsessive behavior introduced in the Criminal Code seven years ago
The crime of harassment entered the Criminal Code in 2015. Article 172 punishes those who “persistently and repeatedly” harass another person through a range of behaviors, with a term of up to seven years in courts, among other assumptions, with up to two years in prison. tracking and persecuting the victim or contacting the victim “through any means of communication or third parties”.
Cases of harassment crimes – conduct also known as stalking – are on the rise in Vigo courts. To give current examples, this year a man was convicted of harassing another man he knew for walking his dogs: he phoned him, left a note in the mailbox, or sent flowers. In another case, a man was convicted of being obsessed with a supermarket worker he had persistently observed, even waiting for him lurking in the parking lot or chasing him in a car. Another try gone a woman from Vigo who makes life impossible for a neighborin one case against a woman who abused her ex-husband, in one case the convicted man sent hundreds of WhatsApp messages to his ex.