pardon letter
In Navarre, a high-profile case from the San Fermín celebration in 2016 led to a controversial legal sequence. The Supreme Court sentenced five members of the group known as La Manada to a combined prison term and ordered them to pay substantial compensation to the 18-year-old victim who endured a sex assault. While the sentence imposed a notable financial penalty, several defendants claimed bankruptcy to limit their liability. The principal development centers on the public record of the case and the ongoing efforts to satisfy the financial reparations owed to the victim, as reported by media outlets including the investigation channel OPEN CASE from Prensa Ibérica.
Alfonso Jesús Cabezuelo, a former soldier, is linked to a property route in Seville that later fed into the case narrative. A residence in the Palmete district was, at one point, leased to two women in 2009, and from February 2021 a monthly rent of 450 euros was collected by Cabezuelo. Despite judgments that bound the defendants to repair the damage done to the victim, payments toward this obligation have remained inconsistent since 2019.
As corroborated by the media, the men of La Manada continued making small payments to the victim from prison, typically ranging between 20 and 50 euros monthly.
reparations and public statements
In the previous year, after another convicted rapist, José Ángel Prenda, issued a letter of apology to the victim and urged that his remarks be considered within the formal statements, the victim’s attorney, Teresa Hermida, decried this as a deceptive tactic intended to secure prison benefits. Hermida noted that neither Prenda nor the other four convicted individuals had paid compensation to the young woman.
Legal counsel commentary following the amnesty letter
Since the July 2019 decision, the only amount paid by the convicts in favor of the complainant totals 3,865.21 euros, an amount described as wholly inadequate and far short of the 100,000 euros owed. The victim’s lawyer voiced this concern before the Second Chamber of the Court of Navarra.
450 euro rent and asset scrutiny
The court was urged to withhold the 450 euros Cabezuelo received as rent from the Seville apartment and to initiate a paternity inquiry to clarify ownership and financial responsibilities tied to the house, including the mortgage, the name on the title, and the bank obligations tied to the property. Case documents indicate the apartment had a market value of 98,287.50 euros, but the court seized the property and placed it up for auction at 35,310 euros, since a mortgage debt of 62,976 euros remained owed to the bank.
ex-soldier’s father and the bid
Interest was shown by several buyers, yet none could meet the needed sum. Alfonso Cabezuelo’s father came close to transferring the flat to a bidder for a sum under the starting price, but an improved bid ultimately secured the asset for his son. Records by OPEN CASE reveal that the elder Cabezuelo paid 25,070 euros toward his son’s apartment, money that was allocated to repairing the substantial harm caused to the victim and others affected by La Manada, including a seven-year course of psychological treatment.
While the Navarra Court had initially set a compensation of 50,000 euros, the gravity of the offense, the young age of the victim at the time of the assault, the impact on privacy, the challenge of forecasting long-term consequences, and the re-traumatization endured throughout the judicial process were cited as reasons to reassess the compensation and ensure adequate redress.
The entire narrative remains a focal point for discussions about accountability, restitution, and the balance between punitive penalties and restorative measures in high-profile cases that attract sustained public scrutiny across Navarre and beyond. [OPEN CASE]