The second section of the Provincial Court of Córdoba sentenced him to two years in prison. prison for a young man coming from Gambia accused of the offense of sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age with a consistent sentence after the prosecution modified its qualification during the trial, considering that there had been no violence and that there had been some touching.
The public prosecutor’s report, to which ABC had access, specifies that the events date back to 2023 when the defendant remained “on the lookout” after seeing how two minors They stayed inside a house. They were about to leave but they realized that this individual was watching them from outside so they decided to wait inside the house for him to leave.
While one of the minors left for her vehicle parked nearby, the other proceeded to close the house, a moment which was taken advantage of by the accused who pushed the door hard, causing managed to gain access inside from the house and guided by his sexual urges, he cornered the young woman and pinned her against a wall to touch her, she trying to move away from him and removing his hands without success.
The minor, warning that she would in no case succeed in getting rid of the accused, told him to hold back for a moment because she would see how was the situation inside the house, the accused agreed to do so, a moment of which he took advantage of to warn his mother and that is when the accused left.
Probation and sex education
The prosecution requested for the accused in an initial classification seven years in prison, a ban on approaching or communicating with the minor for nine years as well as supervised release for seven years after having served the sentence. Likewise, the public prosecutor had also requested the implementation of a training program for sex education for the accused as well as a special ban on exercising any profession or trade involving contact with minors for nine years.
The defense lawyer for this Gambian accused, Javier Vilaverttold ABC that he is a young man who has just arrived in Spain by boat and who admitted during the trial that there had been touching but without violence at any time, which is why he accepted the two-year prison sentence to avoid going to prison because he has no criminal record and will therefore be able to continue his successful sports career.
The problem in this case was that the prosecution, in its initial qualification, had requested 7 years in prison for sexual assault knowing that there had been violence and intimidation. This is why they applied article 181.2 of the Penal Code (which provides for penalties of 5 to 10 years in prison).
However, the defense understood that there was no violent attack at all. During the trial, held behind closed doors, the representative of Public Ministryafter hearing the victim’s prosecutor’s statement and after questioning by the defense, it was proven, according to this party, that there was no violence and the prosecutor interrupted the trial and proposed applying article 181.1, which is the basic type of sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age without violence (with penalties ranging from two to six years in prison) .
The defense therefore preferred to accept this sentence which allowed its client not to go to prison. As a human fact, Vilavert explained that this young man of Gambian nationality who arrived by boat to Spain to seek refuge there is today a youth football star.
In this case, the attack was touching. The prosecution intended to apply the law in force at the time of the attack (July 2022) but the defense had asked to apply the law.Law of only if yes» which was more beneficial, even if ultimately the conviction relates to an article written in the same way as in the previous regulation.
The young man’s defense indicated that what he was seeking by accepting this sentence proposed by the prosecution was “not to destroy the life of a boy who has the life to come “But it would have been cut short if he had been sentenced to the seven years in prison to which he faces.”
