“Let me go, stop, help, police.” Those were the cries of a 16-year-old seeking aid when, a year earlier, she appeared to be assaulted in broad daylight on the loading dock of a Valencia supermarket. A young man with whom she had recently used a synthetic drug known as ‘pescao’ allegedly carried out the attack. Bystanders and several festival volunteers nearby stepped in, the alleged assailant ceased his actions, and fled the scene.
Now, the man alleged to be the author of the assault faces twelve years in prison for sexual assault with coercive conditions involving a minor. The 24-year-old defendant has denied forcing the teenager to have sex during the trial held in the Fifth Section of the Valencia Provincial Court. “We were getting into it, she touched me and I inserted my fingers into her vagina,” he said in his defense. “She asked me to stop, and not more than fifteen seconds passed before I did.”
Nevertheless, the accounts of witnesses diverge from the suspect’s version and from the footage captured by the supermarket’s security cameras, which appear to contradict his statements.
A claim that he did not achieve an erection
Tboth the witnesses and the defendant described the girl as being in a compromised state, a condition that followed their use of synthetic cannabis with the accused and two other friends. “She spoke incoherently, ‘you have given me HIV,’” the alleged assailant admitted. He claimed that he did not hear people telling him to release her, but he acknowledged that he left the scene when he noticed a man approaching with a stick. According to the defense, it appeared the situation had already escalated for some time before the incident ended.