sexual offenses in a domestic setting
The reported abuses occurred between July 2019 and January 2020 in Istanbul. The accused lived as a renter in one of the rooms of the house, sharing the residence with the victim’s mother and her younger sister, who was also a minor.
In the verdict issued by the Tenth Section of the trial, the court found it established that the accused used times when he was alone with the minor to satisfy sexual desires, thereby limiting the minor’s freedom and sexual autonomy.
According to the judgment, the defendant, a Venezuelan citizen, sat with the minor in the living room or in his own room. He watched pornographic videos together with her on a television, a cellphone, or the girl’s own device, and he touched her breasts, hips, and genitals under her clothing, despite the minor’s refusals.
Furthermore, the accused is said to have asked the minor to sit on him while he performed sexual activities and to engage in sensual gestures. On other occasions he allegedly displayed his genitals to the victim, encouraging her to masturbate in his presence.
The accused denied the allegations during the trial and claimed the complaint was the result of a conspiracy, alleging that the mother of the minor had coerced the accused to leave the house.
absence of intent to harm
The court rejected the claim that there was any intended harm. It noted that the victim’s mother testified to having a normal relationship with the accused, who lived with them out of respect for the family of her late husband, who had been the husband of the family member who was his sister-in-law.
The defendant was described as paying the rent regularly and there being no apparent harm in the arrangement. The court underscored the inconsistency in the minor’s account, including in the search for pornographic material on the trial and on the minor’s phone, which could not be explained by the defendant.
The judgment concluded that it was reasonable to infer that the defendant acted with control during the solitary moments described and that the behaviors occurred during the described encounters.
formal complaint
The court stressed that showing the videos to a friend of the minor enabled the mother to become aware of the facts, leading to a formal complaint with the prosecutor. The case was reviewed by civil authorities without any prior contact with the defendant about the facts.
Consequently, the court sentenced the accused to four years in prison for the crime of minor sexual abuse and imposed a prohibition on approaching the minor for six additional years. The sentence remains subject to appeal before the High Court of Justice of the Commonwealth of Valencia within ten days from notification of the ruling.