A Barcelona resident was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison for committing three sexual assaults, one rape, and related privacy crimes in the city from late November 2020 through January 2021. The verdict, reported by Europa Press on Wednesday, also included a compensation order totaling 70,000 euros to the victims and a related suspension involving certain penalties.
The court described the defendant as having acted with premeditation and deliberate targeting of women who were home alone. The crimes occurred at moments when residents were at their entrances or portals, during the lockdown restrictions that limited usual social activity. The judges emphasized a pattern of planning and a chilling willingness to exploit vulnerable situations for personal gain.
Investigators noted that the assailant presented himself as a delivery worker, a ruse that helped him earn the trust of women who opened the door without suspicion. Once welcomed inside, he used the opportunity to trap his victims in elevator spaces or the stairwell of the building.
The first attack took place on November 29, 2020. A second incident occurred on January 18, 2021, when a woman returning from taking out the trash was followed by the perpetrator as she entered her building. On both occasions, the victims opened the door, apparently believing a routine delivery would arrive.
On January 22, 2021, the defendant approached a 16-year-old girl who was about to ascend the building stairs, and later that same day he entered a portal and recorded another assault against an 18-year-old neighbor. The sequence of events left several residents shaken and fearful during a period of heightened concern about public safety and privacy.
Since January 2021, the man has been held in temporary prison. He denied all charges when he was arrested by authorities and throughout the trial proceedings. The record indicates that the accused offered no admission of responsibility and contested the evidence presented by the prosecution.