The Criminal Chamber has issued a verdict that partially grants the appeal filed by the EFE against a judgment from the High Court of Justice of the Community of Valencia, which had upheld the Alicante Court’s ruling convicting the defendant of sexual abuse and two related charges of corruption of minors. The same individual was also tried for attempting to abduct a girl in Luceros Square in Alicante, but the court sentenced him to 21 months in prison solely for coercion, finding no evidence of an intent to kidnap. The case description reflects a pattern of coercive conduct toward underage victims.
The incidents in question occurred between September and December 2017. It is alleged that the convict lured victims to a caravan where he resided in the Rabasa district of Alicante, offering gifts such as money, marijuana, or bicycles in exchange for compliance or access to the victims. This context helps explain the court’s assessment of the offender’s calculated approach to exploiting vulnerable individuals over a period of time.
relationships on 15 occasions
The court found proven that while present in the caravan, the convict engaged in penetrative sexual acts with a 35 percent disabled minor on 15 distinct occasions. This sequence of events underscores the multiplicity and duration of the abuse, reinforcing the gravity of the offense and the harm caused to the minor.
There were also allegations that the younger sister of the victim, aged 13, attended some of these meetings. However, the record did not establish that she witnessed the abuses, according to the sentence, which shaped the court’s assessment of the totality of the misconduct without extending liability in that specific dimension.
Similarly, the court notes that about seventy individuals were involved in other related acts of abuse. In at least three distinct encounters, the offender allegedly requested the minor to engage in masturbation, again within the same caravan setting. The cumulative nature of these encounters contributed to the determination of the offender’s ongoing pattern of coercive exploitation of underage targets.
In his appeal, the defendant challenged the application of the non bis in idem principle, arguing that the same conduct had already been punished in the case of the first victim under two different legal bases: child abuse and bribery of minors. The defense asserted that a single act could not justify multiple crimes under separate headings.
The court addressed this argument by examining whether the two charges stemmed from distinct legal constructs or reflected a continuous, indivisible act. The ruling concluded that the sequence constituted two distinct offenses for the purposes of sentencing, thereby allowing the aggregation of penalties where appropriate. As a result, the sentence for the first victim was augmented by eight years and five months, while the sentence for the second victim was set at two and a half years in prison.
Beyond prison terms, the judgment orders compensation amounts: 8,000 euros to the first victim and 3,000 euros to the second, reflecting civil liability for the damage suffered. The offender was also subjected to eight years of probation and a 6-year prohibition on contacting the victims, aiming to prevent renewed harm and to support the victims’ recovery process.