The Clínic hospital, a reference center for the city of Barcelona in the care of recent sexual assaults on people over 16 years of age, has registered more and more violent cases in the last year than in the previous year. At least one in five assaults is suspected of having been facilitated by drugs.
There is no respite for this scourge. Since the decline facilitated by the confinements and mobility limitations caused by the pandemic in 2020, the numbers of rapes are escalating in the Catalan capital one year after another.
Between January and October of this year, the Clínic has treated 587 victims, 5.6% more than in the same period of the previous year (524 women, 89%, and 64 men). For the first time, more than 70 women have been treated in a single month: it happened in June (72) and September (79). Almost all of the attacks (99%) have been committed by men.
The youngest woman treated was 16 years old and the oldest was 81. The group of 18 to 25 years old is the most representative, with 218 victims.
The data on the typology of the attacks (60% of women have been raped and 67% of men have suffered penetration), the victims and the circumstances of the attack do not experience appreciable variations with respect to previous years (the hospital has treated 2,514 cases in the last 5 years), although one detail stands out: 37% of women have registered physical injuries, when last year they represented 20%.
This suggests an increase in the violence of the attacks, indicate those responsible for the hospital. Thus, 61 women and 6 men suffered moderate to severe injuries as a result of blows, bites on the breasts, hair pulling, scratches or suffocation. Heartbreaking experiences that have consequences: 62% of all female victims have been linked to the program for the prevention and treatment of psychological consequences resulting from sexual assaults.
A good part of the violations are preceded by the consumption of substances that alter behavior and 62% of those harmed state that they were in a leisure context. 66.5% of women and 62.5% of men report having consumed alcohol at least six hours before the attack. And it is suspected that at least one in five have been facilitated by drugs. In the majority of the 128 cases analyzed for intoxication indicators, the presence of substances has been confirmed through analysis. Alcohol, cocaine, cannabis and amphetamines are the most common.
Where do the attacks occur? Mainly (46%) in a home. 16% of women were attacked on public roads and 10% of the total victims were attacked in nightlife venues, with cases in the bathrooms of nightclubs and bars. There are not many safe places: violations have been reported in cars, on public transport, in workplaces, in hotels...
If you have to be suspicious of strangers, acquaintances even more so. In 49.2% of the cases (51.5% in women) the victim knew the aggressor. In fact, 7% of women have been attacked by their partners or ex-partners, and in all cases they have suffered rape.
A favorable fact in this deplorable context is that the percentage of victims of group attacks has experienced slight slowdowns for several years, reaching 8.10% in the first ten months of this year. 41 women have been subdued by more than one aggressor, 18 of which by three or more people. Almost a third of the 22 sexual assaults inflicted on homeless people have been group attacks.
And yet, as in previous years, just under half of the victims are clear that they will file a complaint. A similar percentage (47%) remembers the events, while the rest have partial or total amnesia.
Data from the Clínic's sexist violence and health commission indicate that the days with the most emergency care are Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, and the most relaxed days are Wednesdays. 53% of the women attacked are not Spanish (61% in the case of men) and in this case their origin is mostly from Latin America.
65% arrive at the emergency room in the first 24 hours, predominantly on the afternoon shift (from 4 to 10 p.m.) and on their own initiative (42%). 15% arrive accompanied by security forces and 19% come from other health services.
