The High Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has ratified the conviction of a man to ten years and seven months in prison for sexual assaults committed against a minor of 14 years, twelve years younger than him, with whom he maintained several encounters in the context of a romantic relationship.
According to the resolution, between March 2022 and January 2023, the accused maintained some type of affective bond with the adolescent, during which at least six sexual encounters occurred. These took place both in the accused's home, located in the Las 200 Viviendas neighborhood, and in the home of a friend of his.
It was the minor's mother who, in March 2023, filed a complaint with the Civil Guard, which led to the adoption of precautionary measures prohibiting the accused from approaching within 500 meters of the victim and maintaining any type of contact with her.
The sentence emphasizes that the relationships were carried out despite the man being fully aware of the minor's young age. The expert report carried out on the accused concluded that he had physical and psychological maturity corresponding to his 26 years at the time of the events, while the victim showed low maturity despite appearing to have superior physical development.
The court considers that the accused took advantage of an "asymmetrical" situation of trust with respect to the minor, given that he was 26 years old and she was 14, within the framework of an intimate dating relationship that, according to the prosecution, lasted about ten months. This circumstance allowed for a continuity of the crime by ensuring that the sexual encounters were repeated over time.
Although the accused claimed to be unaware of the adolescent's real age, relying on her physical appearance and the fact that she went to clubs, the Court dismisses this argument. Both the minor and her mother stated that they knew the accused from the church they attended, where both participated in the choir, so the man was aware of the girl's age.
Furthermore, the court points out that the accused adopted a "passive" attitude in checking the victim's age before having sexual relations with her, "showing total indifference towards the age" of the minor.
On the other hand, the high Andalusian court gives full credibility to the victim's "resounding, coherent, and detail-rich" testimony to support the accusation, without appreciating the existence of spurious motives in the complaint filed.
The ruling also sets, among other accessory penalties, eight years of supervised release once the prison sentence is served, as well as the payment of compensation of 20,000 euros to the minor for moral damages.