The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has
The convicted individual has also been ordered to pay a civil liability of 10,000 euros, and a restraining order has been imposed, prohibiting him from coming within 500 meters of the girls for 10 years. He will remain on probation for another 16 years.
The series of events began when one of his children separated from their partner and began residing with the accused’s parents on a family farm in the municipality of Candelaria.
Subsequently, as outlined in the ruling, the perpetrator took advantage of the fact that both his son and daughter-in-law would leave the house for work, and the youngest girl would stay over on alternate weekends. It was during these times that he committed acts of sexual violence against the minor.
According to the sentence, the convicted individual “instructed the minor to wash her genital area so as to not show any signs of redness or injury that could raise suspicion.”
The man perpetrated the acts in his car, in the shower of his residence, and in a room where he stored fishing equipment in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
To prevent the minor from disclosing the abuse, he instructed her to remain silent, indicating that it could “cause significant trouble for him.” Subsequently, he tempted her with money or gifts.
The abuse of one granddaughter ceased when her older brother also started living in the house, after ending a romantic relationship.
He then repeated the same pattern of abuse with another granddaughter, using the same coercive tactics, which led to the minor eventually succumbing, either by offering a mobile phone or money.
Once the abuse ended, both granddaughters confided in each other about the ordeal, but refrained from informing their parents or any other parties, out of fear that it could disrupt family harmony and affect the well-being of both their parents and paternal grandparents, as stated in the ruling.
With the impending birth of one of the granddaughter’s half-sister, from her father’s new relationship, one of the assaulted girls disclosed the incidents to her father, who subsequently filed a complaint with the Civil Guard.
Following this, the daughter of the convicted man’s daughter’s romantic partner, who is therefore also a step-granddaughter, informed her father of the sexual abuses she had endured, during some weekends spent at the residence, beneath a water source on the beach, at her own home during a visit, and also at the fishing hut.
The sentence has already been appealed to the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC).
