The criminal court in Soria has handed a sentence of one year in prison to a man who slapped his wife while a live video was streaming on a social network. The incident, captured during a January broadcast, involved three other teenagers and led to a ban restricting the man from approaching within 300 meters for three years.
A judge found him to be the offender of a gender-based violence crime, according to findings reported by the EFE Organization. The judgment also restricts him from owning or carrying a firearm and prohibits direct or indirect contact with the victim for a period of three years, reinforcing protection measures for the survivor.
During the trial, both the man and the victim had the right not to testify. The woman appeared visibly nervous but asserted that her husband had never mistreated her, and she did not feel compelled to accuse him. In fact, she did not file a formal complaint at the time.
The judge highlighted the police interventions during the hearing as evidence of the couple’s volatile dynamic and acknowledged the power imbalance the man exercises over the victim, which was reflected in the proceedings.
The prosecutor later commented in a separate video posted on the same social network. Nonetheless, the woman admitted on video that her husband had struck her on two occasions.
In his ruling, the judge stated that the man had publicly and visibly assaulted his wife in front of thousands of online spectators with the intention of harming her physically and publicly humiliating her, noting that the injury was real and that the mistreatment was evident from the evidence presented.
The judge emphasized that in cases of gender-based violence, it is not strictly necessary for the survivor to lodge a formal complaint for punishment to be warranted if the offense is known to have occurred. He observed that an on-air slap can suffice to trigger public protection measures, regardless of the victim’s awareness of the consequences at the moment of the act.
The court also noted the survivor’s perspective in which the act appeared to be justified by the attacker’s behavior, though the focus remains on the violence and its impact. The body of the ruling makes clear that a survivor’s consent is not a determining factor in crimes of violence against women and that penalties align with the severity of the harm caused.
The judge stressed that the attack represented an assertion of dominance by the husband on social media, a disparity that persisted even as the incident unfolded live, without the attacker stopping the assault at any point. He argued that such conduct deserves the strongest penalties permitted by law because it reflects a persistent disrespect for the victim, even in public spaces.
According to the judge, the behavior seems to have occurred repeatedly, with the survivor herself acknowledging episodes of prior violence. The video that sparked the case shows the woman being struck across the face during a live chat with three young men.
During the incident, the survivor stated that her father had mistreated her, but later clarified that the person who delivered the slap was her partner. The aftermath of the broadcast led the survivor to seek help from local authorities, who reported receiving a flood of threats and insults linked to the video and its wide reach.
Following an official investigation by the authorities, the police decided to proceed with the arrest of the alleged assailant, keeping the case active as it moves through the judicial process in the province of Soria.