It was not the first time the young man acted this way. The man who yesterday faced prison after another attempt to kidnap a child at a monastery on Ibiza’s Balearic coast had already shown similar behavior. On this occasion, he seemingly failed, thanks to the vigilance of pedestrians who witnessed the scene and intervened.
The incident occurred on August 19 and was reported by the mother of a 13-month-old baby at the Balearic Islands Provincial Court that handles Violence Against Women cases. In the complaint, according to El Periódico de Aragón, a newspaper owned by the Prensa Ibérica group, a 28-year-old mother said she endured threats, ill-treatment, and coercive behavior from the partner, who is identified with the initials DPG.
Four distinct events stand out after the woman filed for separation the previous July. One involved messages sent to friends and family via WhatsApp, in which the accused allegedly described himself as the abductor of the child and claimed he was preventing the mother from seeing her son. The messages painted a troubling picture of control and intimidation.
Another element concerns the woman’s lawyer’s attempt to place a geolocation device on the mother’s phone. It is alleged that this was achieved through a phishing-type strategy aimed at compromising banking institutions, enabling the attacker to access the phone’s data.
The complaint also details a violent episode on August 17, followed by a continuation of threats on August 19 when the mother and child faced danger in public streets near San Antonio Abad in Ibiza during an attempted abduction.
Authorities within Ibiza’s No. 1 Investigation Court have charged the case as sexist violence. Despite the gravity of the allegations, no restraining order or protective measure had yet been issued by a judge, in part because the accused was reportedly connected to a Madrid municipality through DPG, complicating the procedural trajectory. The situation suggested a potential shift of jurisdiction for the parental abduction case, with some discussion that the Calatayud Court near Nuévalos might defer to Ibiza’s court as the case remained open.
Meanwhile, the child’s father and grandfather, referred to by initials GPG and aged 67, spent a distressing first night in a hospital-like setting, held at Zuera prison. A third detainee, MACG, aged 34, was released as a necessary collaborator for assisting in investigations, since he resided in Parla, south of Madrid. Civil Guard authorities described the operation as swift and coordinated, revealing the perpetrators’ license plate and vehicle through security cameras and traffic records. A video recorded by a friend of the mother and other footage depicted the confrontation, together with the father and two other detainees now facing charges for kidnapping, wounding, and organized crime involvement.
In Spain, the conduct described aligns with Article 225 of the Penal Code, which penalizes a parent who abducts a child with a custodial sentence ranging from two to four years. The evolving case underscores the seriousness with which authorities treat parental abductions and gender-based violence claims, particularly when there are attempts to monitor, threaten, or physically interfere with a parent’s custody rights and the safety of the child.