The National Police detained a bar owner following a troubling incident involving sexual abuse after he was found in a vehicle attempting to harass one of his 20-year-old employees, who appeared unable to consent. Friends of the young woman filmed the moment as they approached the car, providing a record that would be used to support the complaint.
The events unfolded in Valencia during the early hours of August 14 after four coworkers attended a party in the city. The hotel owner and another person were arrested as suspects of aggravated harassment. Earlier in the evening, inside a nightclub on Professor López Piñero street, the victim, a twenty-year-old, began feeling unwell and left the venue, climbing into a colleague’s car to rest until she felt steadier.
Taking advantage of his employee’s vulnerable state, the bar owner allegedly approached her while she was disoriented from the drink, touching her without permission and crossing clear boundaries.
Judge frees 20-year-old victim with a 150-metre restraining order
The two friends who accompanied the young woman and who left the keys to the car testified that the man had not been with them earlier and that they had reason to believe something inappropriate was happening. They grew suspicious and moved closer to the vehicle parked near the nightclub.
When they arrived, they saw the owner inside the car glancing around to ensure no one was watching. They began recording on their phones and soon confirmed their worst fears, witnessing the man’s wife touching her clothes in a way that indicated non-consensual contact while the victim appeared motionless.
After rescuing the woman from the car, the owner escorted her home. The subsequent examination of the events, supported by the record kept by the friends, left little doubt about the nature of the situation and the serious abuses that had occurred, including inappropriate touching.
At the end of the previous week, law enforcement detained the alleged perpetrator, a 29-year-old Ecuadorian national, who claimed he had been heavily intoxicated and could not recall exact details. The judge imposed a 150-metre restraining order to prevent further contact with the victim at the same workplace.
“I couldn’t control myself” claims detainee from another violation
A separate incident occurred on the following Sunday when a 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of rape involving a 24-year-old French woman in central Valencia after inviting her to his home. The survivor later said she wanted nothing to do with sexual activity that night and testified that she attempted to leave the situation early the next morning. She reported waking with semen on her clothes and bedding, a detail she described during the complaint.
The incident happened on Thursday August 18 when a young Moroccan detainee, identified as a minor foreign national, arrived in Spain and met the woman at her residence. The woman stated she did not consent to sex and that she simply wanted to rest. She described waking to find evidence of intercourse on her clothing. The detainee was released pending trial as the investigation continues.