A 23-year-old man was arrested last Thursday in the parking lot of the Màgic Badalona shopping center (Barcelonès Nord) accused of an alleged sexual assault on a minor under 13 years of age. The alleged attacker had contacted the minor through social networks without knowing his real age.
In one of the usual rounds at six in the afternoon, the security personnel, according to El País, detected a situation that caught their attention and notified the Mossos d'Esquadra, who arrested the adult for practicing oral sex on the minor. Both had contacted through social networks. The investigators separate this case from the group rapes of minors that have taken place in recent months in Badalona.
As La Vanguardia has learned, in this case it was the minor who actively sought a sexual partner in his area of residence. He located the 23-year-old young man on social networks and they met for a coffee in the shopping center, close to their home, and then accessed the parking lot. According to sources close to the investigation, the minor appears to be over 13 years old, so the accused of assault allegedly acted unaware of the crime he allegedly committed.
The Màgic parking lot, like that of other large shopping centers and even the toilets of the large railway stations, are a common meeting point for cruising, the sexual practice that consists of having sex in public places, such as parks, gardens, but also areas that offer some privacy.
In a first public reaction, the mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, through social networks, has reported the arrest "because the security protocol of the shopping center worked." The Màgic Badalona, since the first attacks on minors took place, has activated numerous safety and prevention protocols, such as locking up the disabled toilet, increasing surveillance and even removing the benches where groups of young people were concentrated. For its part, the Guàrdia Urbana maintains a civilian patrol during peak hours.
The Màgic is the epicenter of all the latest controversies of group sexual assaults. The Mossos investigate up to eight cases - between July 2022 and June 2023 - in which around twenty minors would be involved, six of whom were arrested and the rest, thirteen, are unimputable minors under 14 years of age. Three of the attacks were perpetrated in the toilets of the shopping center.
