An individual identified by initials M. E. R. P. (born 1976) who resides in Gijón, has been convicted by the Penal Court Number 1 in Oviedo to a prison term of one year and three months for sexual abuse. The victim was a 23-year-old woman who was 24 weeks pregnant at the time. She had visited the premises in August 2021 to request a quote for renovation work. The accused began touching himself inappropriately and ultimately groped the woman, who reacted with a panic attack. Some time later, he attempted a similar act on another young woman riding a scooter, but she managed to escape. Years earlier, in 2008, he had been reported for harassing a different woman.
The court established as proven facts that at about 13:15 on August 11, 2021, the defendant entered a storefront on Pumarín Street in Oviedo and asked the sole employee present for information about a property renovation. After a brief exchange, the employee suggested contacting the owner since the shop was closed to the public at that moment. During that exchange, the defendant, after using hand sanitizer, placed his hands inside his trousers and began touching his genitals in front of the employee. She warned him that his behavior was inappropriate and attempted to activate the alarm and call his boss for help, though her nerves prevented the call from succeeding.
At that moment the defendant walked toward her, touched her left shoulder, and said, “goodbye, beautiful.” The woman withdrew, but the defendant repeated the action, placing his hand on her again and touching her chest, abdomen, and pubic region over the clothing, against her will. She cried out, causing him to leave the premises. Moments later the incident with the scooter rider occurred. The employee then tried to contact her employer by phone and, upon locating him, he confronted the defendant in the street on the corner of Buenaventura Paredes and Llano Ponte. He grabbed and restrained the man until two Local Police officers arrived, taking him to the police station. The pregnant victim received medical assistance from an ambulance crew and later from the Vallobín Health Center. The victim, supported by attorney Carlos Hernández Fierro, reaffirmed the events in court.
During the trial the defendant denied any groping and even denied entering the establishment, claiming he was in the vicinity only. He attempted to attribute the complaint to a misidentification and argued that he suffers from a mental illness, insisting he is not fully responsible for his acts. The court noted that the defendant did not substantiate any specific mental illness. His medical records from Cabueñes Hospital showed occasional consultations for depressive symptoms dating back to 1999, with a documented depressive episode between 2008 and 2010. There was no evidence of ongoing mental health treatment from the time of the trial.
The defense, led by attorney Elsa Esther Fernández, requested a mitigating circumstance for procedural delays. The judge, Marta Navas Solar, rejected the request, explaining that the time elapsed between the opening of investigative proceedings on August 13, 2021, and the trial held the previous month amounted to two years and a little over eight months, which aligned with established jurisprudential benchmarks for reasonable duration of proceedings.
In addition to the custodial sentence, the court ordered a four-year restraining order prohibiting contact with the victim and barred the defendant from performing any job or activity involving minors. The defendant was also ordered to pay 2,000 euros in civil compensation to the victim for damages.
This case included a separate history of inappropriate conduct years earlier. In 2008, the defendant faced allegations of harassment directed at the secretary of a Gijón training center. The accused made crude comments about her appearance and threatened violence if given the chance to escalate. He was expelled from the center, but the harassment did not end. On one occasion he allegedly entered the woman’s car and declared intent to accompany her home. On another, he confronted students and the accused expressed hostility toward the women reporting the abuse. The details of those prior incidents illustrate a pattern that contributed to the court’s assessment of the defendant’s character during sentencing. The record of these past events was presented as context but did not alter the core determination regarding the August 2021 offenses.
The proceedings culminated with the court’s judgment detailing the conduct and its impact on the victims, the evidence presented, and the penalties imposed. The decision reflects a careful balancing of criminal accountability, public safety concerns, and the need to deter similar acts in the future. Attribution: Court records from the Penal Court Number 1 in Oviedo.