Mossos d’Esquadra, Sexual Assaults Center Unit (UCAS), has opened an investigation into the sexual assault of a 19-year-old student in Barcelona on 11 March. Two weeks after the incident, the Catalan police are still pursuing leads to locate the perpetrator, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The assault occurred in the early hours, around five in the morning. The victim, an international student who had recently moved to Barcelona after Christmas, was attacked near the Poble Espanyol area, on her way from a nightclub exit.
The assailant raped her and struck her with a blunt object to force compliance. After regaining consciousness, the young woman returned to the nightclub and sought help from staff, who immediately activated the protocol for sexual violence. Mossos d’Esquadra was alerted and responders transported her to care facilities. The Hospital Clinic de Barcelona serves as the reference center for underage women who have suffered sexual assault in the Catalan capital.
UCAS investigators are reviewing the most serious case details and examining footage from the Input nightclub as part of the effort to identify the suspect. Security cameras exist both inside and outside the venue, and investigators are analyzing whether the attacker followed the victim from within the nightclub and where the crime occurred in a location with limited visibility.
The incident took place near the nightclub, but not inside it. As a result, Input and the Federation of Catalan Associations of Restoration and Musical Activities (FECASARM) are participating as special prosecutors in the case managed by the 31st Barcelona Court.
FECASARM spokesperson and general secretary, Joaquim Boadas, has asked the court to recognize the collective charge as a popular accusation. He referenced a prior case from November 2021, when a similar popular charge was admitted against a group connected to a nightclub in Igualada after a rape incident involving a minor, arguing that such measures help ensure accountability.
Boadas emphasized that isolated incidents must not define nightlife’s safety. He argued that the real danger lies in the criminals themselves and called for their removal from circulation. Both the nightclub and FECASARM intend to pursue the strongest possible penalties for crimes such as rape and related violence, reflecting the severity of the assault and the impact on the victim.