The old site, completely demolished, only retains three small rooms with some walls and a roof made of old uralite. The interior is rotten. Several bonfires have destroyed what little was left, there is rubbish, offensive graffiti and an old battered sofa which is supposed to have been the scene of the alleged gang assault that a woman reported at the end of last year. It happened in Rubí, in an industrial estate on the outskirts of this town of Barcelona, where on Thursday the head of court 7 sent five men, aged between 20 and 27, of Moroccan nationality and residents of Terrassa, to prison without bail , accused of having participated in the sexual assault. And not just once, but some, at least three times, as the victim told the investigators of the Central Sexual Assault Unit (UCAS), who discreetly brought up the issue.
A particularly complex investigation due to the extreme vulnerability of the victim, a woman with a diagnosed intellectual disability who for some time neither could nor knew how to report the ordeal she was suffering.
Finally, after the last of the alleged sexual assaults in that terrible scene, on December 27, the woman took the step of going to the Mossos d'Esquadra de Rubí. At the police station, they quickly understood that this was a complex case with a victim that required specialized and ongoing treatment, and it was taken over by the UCAS police.
Supervised by the judge of 7 de Rubí, an investigation began, the results of which were announced on Thursday, when the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia reported that the five detainees had been jailed without bail a few hours earlier. Those arrested who admitted to sexual relations, and who assured that they were always consensual.
The victim's version, which was given absolute credibility by the police, the judge and the prosecutor, is that one of the detainees was an acquaintance of the woman. A relationship that at times also allowed for intimate relationships. The detainee was aware of the woman's extreme weakness and vulnerability, sources familiar with the investigation told La Vanguardia. And at least three times he convinced the woman to go on a date with him, alone, and then called a few female friends who invited them to have sex with the young woman.
Relationships without consent on her part, as she declared to the police and was later ratified by the judge. The magistrate also counted on other elements, beyond the victim's statement, that further consolidated his story. In the words of the judge, this story was "coherent" from the first moment, the magistrate stressed in the interlocutory hearing.
Starting from the identification of the man who allegedly acted as bait, the investigators went on to identify and locate the rest of the assailants, until reaching the five who were identified by the woman without any doubt. In his statements, the victim referred to more perpetrators of the various attacks, but they have not yet been identified. That is why the investigation remains open.
The magistrate understood that there was a high risk of flight, in addition to the seriousness of the crimes of which they are accused.
All five suspects have prior records, mainly for property-related crimes, although at least one of them also has a record for sexual crimes.
The victim told the investigators the hell he was living through. She was afraid of the man who acted as a link and detailed that in the different group attacks she was led by force and with violence, despite pleas and repeated negatives.
