The Prosecutor’s Office requested nine years in prison for a man as the alleged perpetrator of a sexual assault on a woman in the house they both shared in the La Victoria neighborhoodin the municipality of Santa Cruz of Tenerife. But nevertheless, the contradictions of the alleged victim and only direct witness At the time of narrating what happened during the trial, they were so important with respect to what he said in his complaint that the representative of the Public Ministry, his legal aid lawyer and the defense lawyer agreed that they should not continue with the practice of evidence and taking statements from other people summoned, as well as requesting the withdrawal of the accusation from the male. What’s more, the prosecutor, Náyade Remón, requested that ex officio proceedings be initiated against the woman for incurring false testimony. The events occurred this Wednesday in room 11 of the Provincial Court.
Furthermore, it happens that the apartment in which both people lived was leased by the defendant to the woman. But nevertheless, behind the interposition of the complaint of rape in May 2019, the arrest of the individual and the restraining order dictated in this regard, the man has had to live in a van on public roads and, furthermore, since then he has not received the 300 euros per month for rent that appear in the contract signed between the parties.
The woman has a history of mental health problems, as well as alleged drug and alcohol use. But nevertheless, the parties consider that these circumstances should not influence lying in an act as serious as sexual assault.
To questions from the prosecutor, the accused admitted that he had had sexual relations with the woman, but clarified that they were consensual. The man stated before the magistrates of the Fifth Section of the Provincial Court that it was his tenant who proposed to have sex with him and that, at no time, she resisted or regretted what happened.
He indicated that he did not use force to open her legs. According to the man, they were “cold sexual relations and we did not finish them, since she was left as a piece of furniture.”
To questions from his lawyer, the accused denied that the woman was in his home due to a contract signed with a well-known Church NGO, but rather that it was a document between individuals.
During the investigation of the case, the rest of the people who were summoned to testify, such as the woman’s ex-partner, the man who lived with the latter or the woman who caused him to enter the apartment in the La Victoria neighborhood, offered testimonies that they dismantled the complainant’s version.
One of the contradictions incurred by the woman was the insinuations that, apparently, the accused made to her. If in the complaint filed with the National Police he commented that the man offered him invitations of a sexual nature on at least two occasions, in the trial, on the other hand, he assured that the person involved told him that “I could take care of the cleaning and make dinner”, that is, as a hypothetical proposal to live as a couple and that made him feel “afraid”. Despite the fact that the prosecutor insisted on several occasions about what the man actually told her, the alleged victim did not agree on any occasion with what she initially raised before the National Police. She later added that “he was very much on top of me and that overwhelmed me.”
Another contradiction was recorded when recounting how the alleged sexual assault began. If in the complaint filed with the security body she indicated that the man grabbed her arm and forced her into the room; at trial she stated that the man entered her room when she was putting on her nightgown and then grabbed her and threw her on the bed.
If at the time of bringing the matter to the attention of the agents, he explained that the man entered the room dressed, before the magistrates he commented that he entered the room naked. At first, he said he ripped her nightgown, but on Wednesday he said he just pulled it up and ripped the sleeves.
And, to questions from the prosecutor Náyade Remón, he did not clarify how he separated his legs to carry out the penetration. In some moments she affirmed that the individual did it thanks “to her weight” of her, while in others she pointed out that he grabbed her by the outer part of the thighs.
In addition, although he did not mention anything similar to the agents, in the room he indicated that, due to the struggle, two nails were broken. The National Police collected the complaint that was filed on May 23, 2019 and that the alleged criminal act took place on the 19th. However, in her statement before the magistrates and the parties, the woman first said that the complaint was filed up to date following and, even, that he went to the South District Police Station of the capital of Tenerife that same night.
But it is that the doctor who treated her in a health center only told her that she had suffered an assault, since the health professional did not reflect at any time that it had been a sexual assault. And the aforementioned doctor put in the part that the events had occurred at 10:00 in the morning, while yesterday the woman assured that the alleged sexual assault took place at ten at night.
