She remembers nothing of what happened, but one detail is clear: she would not engage in sexual relations under normal circumstances with those two men. This is the testimony of a woman in her forties who was a victim last weekend in Alicante of a sexual assault allegedly committed by two men when she was not fully aware of her surroundings. An off-duty local police officer from Elche, en route to work in the early hours, intervened to prevent the alleged assault, and with the help of security staff from a nearby club and a national police officer who lives nearby, the two suspects were detained.
Both detainees, who did not wish to speak to the National Police at their station or yesterday at the Alicante Magistrate’s Court, have been released on provisional liberty. As precautionary measures, a judge ordered a 500-meter protection zone around the victim and scheduled biweekly court appearances.
Attack near Magma
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This sexual assault occurred a few days after another incident near the Magma nightclub in Alicante, where two men were also detained. In this case, one of the detainees has prior homicide-related records from Germany. They were brought before the court last weekend following investigations by the Violent Crime Group of the Judicial Police and were placed in preventive detention.
According to sources close to the case, the events unfolded when the victim, about 20 years old, stepped away from Magma to use the restroom and was approached by the now-incarcerated men, both with problematic histories related to substance abuse and alcohol. Friends grew worried when she did not return, and they contacted a brother who managed to locate her using a parental-control app.
The brother, who called 112, confirmed that the mobile signal appeared in a rundown area of dilapidated shacks near Magma. There, he discovered his sister being held by the two men, who lived in that location and were arrested by the police for sexually assaulting her.
That cluster of dilapidated houses, where residents with limited resources live, is awaiting a court order for eviction, according to people familiar with the case.
Intervention at San Juan Beach
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The second sexual assault occurred around five-thirty in the early hours of last Sunday in an alley off Avenida Países Escandinavos. An off-duty Elche police officer was heading to his car to go to work when he saw two men with their pants down and a woman, also partially undressed, on the hood of a car. Approaching, he saw the woman resisting and trying to break free, identified himself as a police officer, displayed his badge, and began questioning the suspects.
The men offered little, while the woman could barely speak and was clearly shocked. Suspecting a sexual assault taking advantage of her vulnerable state, he told them to stay put while he left to seek help from security staff at the nearby LaLaLand nightclub across the street.
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The two men seized the moment to run, and the officer pursued them with his car while club security also chased after them. A National Police officer who was at his residence nearby joined in, and together they managed to subdue and detain the suspects. Minutes later, a patrol from the Alicante Local Police arrived, and the national officer coordinated the operation. The victim was taken to urgent care, and the detainees were taken to the Provincial Police Station.
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