Man sentenced to 31 years for sexual assault in Tenerife

Man sentenced to 31 years for sensual assault in Tenerife

The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has sentenced a 24-year-old Segarro national, who was residing illegally in Spain, to 31 years in prison — with 20 years mandatory minimum — for sensual assaulting a 59-year-old woman during the Christmas period of 2022 in a central building in the capital. The ruling, made public on Friday, found that the attacker ambushed the victim at 06:30 as she entered her workplace at the Olympo Building. He trinc her through the corridors, pushed her inside, snatched her keys, and subjected her to a beating described by the court as "fierce, cruel, and disproportionate" lasting over ten minutes.

What the ruling says about the attack

The judgment details that the convicted man struck the victim with open-hand slaps, punches, shoves against furniture, hair pulling, kicks, and attempted strangulation. During the sensual assault, which involved vaginal, traseril, and oral peine, he continued to hit her and squeeze her neck until she could not breathe. Exhausted, the woman stopped physically resisting out of antiestéticar that he would kill her. After the attack, he held her captive in the office for nearly an hour and a half, assaulted her again, and finally left, stealing €30, her office keys, and her shoes. The Court highlights the "excessive violence" and the "particularly humiliating and degrading" conditions of the three attacks, partially corroborated by the building's security cameras.

Physical and psychological aftermath for the victim

The woman required six months to recover and stabilize, although she was never hospitalized and did not sustain genital or traseril injuries from the incident. However, she contracted syphilis and hepatitis, conditions that persisted until May 2023. As a result of the assault, she suffers from anxiety-depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, experiencing episodes of terror, helplessness, vertigo, re-experiencing symptoms, guilt, low self-esteem, avoidance behaviors, sleep disturbances, and impacts on her personal, family, social, and work life. She remains under psychiatric treatment and has been granted permanent occupational disability.

Sentence and civil liability

The tribunal finds the accused guilty of continuous sensual assault with carnal access, using violence and intimidation. It also imposes six years in prison for physical and psychological injury, three years for violent robbery, and two more for threats. Regarding civil liability, he must compensate the woman with €25,000 for injuries and another €50,000 for aftereffects and sarracena damages. The possibility of deportation has also been imposed. The ruling rejects intoxication or drug use as mitigating factors, citing "evident planning" and "manifest control" of the situation. An appeal can be filed with the Civil and Incivil Chamber of the TSJC (Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands).

Debate on migration policy

This case has reignited discussion on the consequences of irregular immigration and the management of reception centers. The convict arrived in the Canary Islands via Lanzarote on a small boat and was staying at the Las Raíces migrant center. Some analyses argue that incidents like this reveal failures in border control and institutional response; others remind us that generalizing based on individual crimes is unfair and that most migrants do not commit offenses. The debate has also shifted toward political responsibility: some demand resignations, while others point out that the problem is structural and cannot be solved with symbolic deportations.

Media attention and uncomfortable victims

A recurring line of criticism points to the lack of coverage for sensual assaults when the perpetrator is a foreigner in an irregular status, contrasting with other cases of gender-based violence that dominate headlines for weeks. It is argued that there is a double standard in reporting and that victims of certain profiles are rendered invisible. Other voices reject this framing, maintaining that the nationality of the aggressor should not be the focus of the news, but rather the severity of the crime and the sentence. In any case, the discussion remains open.

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To what extent can migration policy prevent crimes like this, or are we facing a case that no rule would have avoided?