On September 2, the Mossos d’Esquadra arrested a 15-year-old minor accused of raping an 18-year-old girl in Salou (Tarragona). Both are Irish nationals and were on vacation in the city.
As reported by El País and confirmed by the Catalan police, the minor was arrested a few hours after the young woman reported the facts. Being a minor, the young man, after being arrested, was placed at the disposal of the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, which ordered his admission to a juvenile justice center pending the investigation of the case.
The young woman’s prompt complaint after the incident allowed for the immediate collection of traces and evidence as well as the identification of the alleged attacker. The key detail was a detail given by the victim: the accused, whom she had met in a bar on the night of September 1-2, was wearing an all-inclusive bracelet from a local hotel where she was staying with her family.
The Mossos quickly located the hotel and arrested the accused on the afternoon of September 2, who turned out to be a minor. The victim returned to his country on Wednesday.
According to the crime report of the Ministry of the Interior, 1,588 sexual assaults were registered last year in Catalonia, which represents an increase of 34% compared to the previous year, when 1,184 were reported. This increase, as experts in the fight against sexual violence point out, does not imply an exponential growth in rapes, but rather responds to a greater number of reported cases that previously occurred but were not reported. The figures for the first half of this year indicate a slight decrease of 2.8%, with 740 complaints.
