ISSUE 648 • 17th - 23rd August 2018
EST 2005
Ruling upheld By Jose Arthur SPAIN’S Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant who appealed against a five-year jail term for sexually assaulting a woman with mental disabilities will still serve his prison sentence. The Madrid court upheld a previous decision from the Provincial Court of Almeria. It dismissed the defendant’s appeal which was made on the grounds the woman invited him to make sexual advances. The courts heard the defendant approached the 19-year-old while she was returning home from a centre that trains people
APPEAL: The Supreme Court ruled against the defendant. with mental disabilities and special needs for work. Prosecutors told the court the defendant said he would accompany the woman to her home so he could give her family some clothes.
She agreed and when they arrived there the defendant forced himself inside, threw her on a sofa and began taking off her clothes. He then sexually assaulted her and the 19year-old tried to resist.
The defendant used more force to try and assault the woman which left her with slight injuries. The court heard the woman’s mental disability meant she was not able to freely consent to having sex. Judges dismissed claims from the defendant’s lawyers who said the victim’s testimony was compromised by her condition. The court also heard there was DNA evidence taken from the victim’s body which matched her version of events. Psychologists told the court the woman’s condition was such that she would not be able to invent a fictitious version of events.
Boat rescue COASTGUARDS in Almeria have rescued 67 migrants from a boat in which one died and another went missing after spending three days adrift in the Alboran Sea. Salvamento Maritimo personnel were informed that the vessel was passing through the waters off the Cabo de Gata area last Friday afternoon. The rescue vessel Salva Spica was despatched where it intercepted the boat with its 67 passengers on board. The majority, if not all, were from sub Saharan Africa. Coastguards found the remains of the dead passenger when they stepped on board the vessel. They also found a person with injuries and in poor health and were also told another migrant had vanished and is believed to have drowned. The people aboard the boat told the personnel they had been adrift for several days without food or water. They were transferred to A l m e r i a C i t y ’s p o r t a n d a r r i v e d o n F r i d a y evening. Pictures taken at the port showed personnel wearing protective medical gear as they carried away what appeared to be the remains of the man who died. Volunteers from the Red Cross were also on hand to assist other passengers.