35 years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of a minor in central Catalonia in 2021

The court in Barcelona sentenced 35 years in prison for rape and attempted murder of a minor in 2021 in Igualada, central Catalonia.

The man, 21 years old at the time of the events, raped the minor on the night of Castanyada (or Halloween night) on October 31, 2021, when he returned home after a party at a nightclub.

The court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for Sexual harassment with penetration and use of a large object and 20 years and one day less for attempted murder. The judges added aggravating penalties for high treason and gender discrimination.

The public prosecutor demanded 45 years in prison, he is in custody since April 2022.

Brutal attacks and desire to murder as victims

During the trial, which began in Barcelona in mid-July, several witnesses and lawyers said that the attack was very brutal and that there was a desire to kill the victim. Closing statements also addressed the male-dominated nature of the attack and that he was looking for “humiliation.”

The lawyer for the nightclub union Fecasarm said the defendant was “a danger to the public” and that this “savage” could not be released. “He did not want to attack her. He only wanted to kill her,” he added during his final statement in court.

The perpetrator was not looking for sexual satisfaction, but “to cause as much damage as possible to the victim,” as some members of the Catalan Police of Mossos d’Esquadra A group focused on analyzing criminal behavior said.

According to the same statement Victim had “very serious injuries” on her head and anal area, and they had never seen similar injuries. “There was a lack of empathy and remorse” and “there was a high probability that he would attack again,” the witness statement said, since the perpetrator had left the victim there.

In fact, one of the medical examiners said the injury was “very large” and that these injuries were “not very consistent” with the male reproductive system, but he had used “a large object.” He also said that “these injuries are more commonly seen in the autopsy room than on an initial examination.”

Defending innocence

Meanwhile, the defense continued, Innocence of the client and that there was not enough evidence against him. Attorney Gerard Negrell focused his final speech mainly on questioning all the evidence, such as that his client’s phone not geolocatedHowever, they used their signal connection area, which, according to the lawyer, did not work as well as the signal could have due to the proximity to the discotheque.

“You can say that my client was in the area,” he said, but he ruled out that he was at the scene of the events. The lawyer also had asked not to consider the surveillance footage due to the “poor quality” of the images.

Found by truck driver

The victim was found on November 1 at around 7 a.m. by a truck driver in the municipality’s logistics area in a very poorly lit street.

She was found half naked, trembling, almost unconscioussurrounded by a large amount of blood on the floor, face and genitals.

With the help of 155 surveillance cameras, the Mossos d’Esquadra police were able to identify the perpetrator.

Although the events were not recorded, several cameras recorded the Moments before and afterwhere the then 21-year-old man left the area with a piece of clothing that could have belonged to the victim.

The phone signal also pointed the perpetrator to the proximity of the crime scene, and police found several screenshots of Google Maps on his phone near the victim’s location. A witness statement said that these Screenshot may have been taken “involuntarily” because he had drunk alcohol and consumed drugs.