The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter for four years. The expert tests confirmed that in the girl's bed there was the genetic profile of the convicted person and of a woman who could well be the victim.
In addition to the prison sentence, the accused must compensate the victim with 20,000 euros and cover therapeutic expenses. If he is finally convicted, when he is released from prison, the man will be prohibited from approaching the victim within 500 meters for a period of eight years.
The events occurred when the defendant, 57 years old, lived in a house in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with his wife, and in turn the girl's mother, as well as other children of the couple. The man took advantage of the moments when the woman was away from home to sexually abuse her stepdaughter.
The sentence states that the attacks occurred between 2018 and 2022, from when the girl was 9 years old until she turned 14. During this period, these episodes occurred at least once a week. At one point they intensified, leading to penetrations.
All of this despite the minor's refusal and taking advantage of the family relationship they had, their cohabitation and age difference, the sentence indicates. Likewise, he adds that the accused directed expressions such as “I'm going to kill you” at the victim. She even sometimes resorted to physical punishment when the girl did not comply with her requests, which generated a climate of panic or terror in the minor.
Consequently, the minor was subjected to psychological treatment without it being possible to determine the duration it will last, nor the effects that have been left on her as a result of the attacks. The psychologist from the Cabildo de Tenerife appreciates the existence of “serious consequences compatible with complex traumas.” Furthermore, at the trial she declared that she was the minor who spontaneously told her specific episodes of what happened.
Since March 10, 2022, the man has been in provisional prison when he was detained outside the institute where he had gone to look for the minor. The day before, the girl had called 112 telling the authorities what was happening.
Since then, the victim has been in a child protection center and has not returned to the family home. The General Directorate of Child and Family Protection has declared the minor provisionally abandoned with assumption of guardianship of her.
During the oral hearing, the complainant gave a story that the court considers credible and in which she did not incur any contradiction. Likewise, the young woman justified that she had not told anything about what was happening for fear that she would do the same to her little sister. However, she also confessed that she felt guilty that her stepfather was in jail.
For his part, the convicted man refused to answer the parties' questions. However, when he testified in court during the investigation phase, the man acknowledged the facts. In her statement, the aggressor stated that at first he touched the girl and that he only carried out a penetration that was consented to by her.
Furthermore, the defendant tried to justify his actions by arguing that the abuse began just a few months ago and that it was the young woman herself who sought him out to play because she was more developed than normal. Regarding the complaint, the man assured that the minor had betrayed him because a few days before she had taken his cell phone.
On the other hand, the minor's mother assured that she never saw or perceived that anything strange was happening within the family. She had even come to trust her partner so that she would take care of the minors when she went out to work or do some errands.
