The Girona Court has sentenced to 9 months in prison the accused of allegedly sexually assaulting, mistreating, and humiliating his partner in Salt between August and October 2022, although the sentence only considers one episode of physical violence proven and acquits him of the rest of the reported facts.
The resolution of the fourth section of the Court, with a report by magistrate Antonia Godia, condemns the defendant for a crime of injury in the context of violence against women. The court considers it proven that on the afternoon of September 3, 2022, at the home the couple shared in Salt, the accused slapped the victim several times in the face, causing her injuries.
Acquitted of sexual assault and of the rest of the reported episodes
The Prosecutor's Office was seeking 21 years in prison. It maintained that, at least from August 2022 until the end of the relationship in October of that year, the defendant subjected the woman to physical abuse, humiliations, threats, sexual assaults, and degrading treatment. The defense, exercised by lawyer Natàlia Frigola, requested acquittal.
The Court dismisses that it has been proven that the accused insulted the victim, accusing her of having been with other men, nor that he pulled down her pants to examine her genitals on October 3, 2022. Nor does it consider proven the reported facts of August 23, 2022, when the prosecution maintained that the man acted in front of his minor daughter to denigrate his partner and violate her sexual freedom, in addition to belittling her, sexually assaulting her, and holding her head forcefully, hitting it against a bathroom glass.
The court also does not convict him for other alleged disparagements, physical aggressions or discussions due to jealousy on October 1 and 2, 2022, nor for having offended and denigrated her on at least four or five occasions after the birth of the daughter they have in common.
The victim did not attend the trial
The ruling emphasizes that the victim did not appear at the oral hearing. Her statement in the investigating court was read during the trial, but the Court notes that it did not have the value of pre-constituted evidence. For that reason, in addition to her account, elements were needed that would support and reinforce the reported physical and sexual assaults.
The resolution concludes that that evidentiary reinforcement was not achieved in the episodes of threats, rape, and injuries of August 23, nor in those of insults and injuries of October 1 and 2, nor in the alleged episode of sexual assault of October 3.
A neighbor and the medical reports sustain the conviction
The Court does consider the physical aggression proven by the testimony of a neighbor, who saw the victim injured in the street, and by the medical reports that documented the injuries. That episode is the only one that the court considers proven in the procedure.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposes on the convicted person the prohibition from approaching within 300 meters of the victim and from communicating with her for 1 year and 9 months. He must also compensate her with 300 euros for the injuries caused.
The sentence states that both maintained a relationship and lived together in an apartment in Salt. They had a common daughter who, at that time, was under the guardianship of the Direcció General d'Atenció a la Infància i l'Adolescència. The resolution thus limits the conviction to a single episode of injuries and leaves the rest of the accusations unpunished, not considering them to have been sufficiently proven.