The Provincial Court handed down a seven-year prison sentence to a 42-year-old man who sexually abused his two underage daughters in Alicante. The court acquitted the accused’s mother and partner, ruling that there was insufficient proof that they knew the truth or that they should have acted to protect the grandchildren. The ruling did not address anything else about the case.
The facts established during the punishment phase of the second part of the trial form the basis of the decision, which can still be appealed to the Supreme Court. The incident took place in Alicante in 2020 within a family home where the wife of the accused sometimes resided with her mother, who was staying in the same house.
According to the decision, the two older children of the accused, now aged 19 and 14, and a younger boy who was a minor at the time, visited their grandmother’s house in accordance with a divorce-related visitation schedule between their parents.
while they sleep
During one overnight stay, the two girls shared a room. In the early hours of December 24, 2020, while both were asleep, the accused entered the room and sexually abused a minor. The daughter woke, pushed her father out of the room, and alerted others to what had occurred.
The court noted that after the initial incident the father returned to the room and, on a separate occasion, touched the other daughter inappropriately as she wore pajamas. The testimony describes a pattern of intrusive behavior that began in September 2020, when the 19-year-old daughter had been staying at her grandmother’s house for work responsibilities. On several occasions, the father entered the room and harassed her again, pursuing a sexual objective that remained hidden beneath a veneer of normal family life.
In the following year, on the morning of April 17, around 13:00, the accused again entered his daughter’s room and engaged in sexual harassment. The court recounts that he attempted to remove her pajama pants and underwear, trying to exert control over his daughter during what should have been a private moment of rest.
The court imposed two separate prison terms of three and four years for two counts of sexual abuse against a child under sixteen. It also required probation for six years after the prison sentence and a disqualification from any work or activity involving regular contact with minors during that period.
The prosecution had sought a total sentence of 21 years in prison and an additional seven years as an accomplice in grandparental sexual abuse, arguing that the accused had witnessed the mother’s departure from the victims’ room without reproving the father’s actions or offering protection. The prosecutor asserted that the grandparents had been told by the children not to speak out, but the court did not uphold these broadened charges from the Public Ministry. The court accepted the daughters’ accounts as credible and noted that there was no evidence of resentment, revenge, or any motive to lie that could undermine the reliability of their statements.
Overall, the decision reflects a careful weighing of testimony from multiple family members and a legal determination of the appropriate punishment for the offenses documented in 2020, within the context of a divorce-influenced living arrangement and a pattern of harmful behavior that impacted more than one victim within the same household. The outcome remains subject to potential further appellate review under the applicable jurisdictional rules and timelines. The court’s conclusions emphasize the seriousness of crimes involving sexual abuse of minors and the necessity of protective measures for victims and their families. (Court records)