Defendant who blamed his brother for raping woman in Alicante acquitted

The Court investigates the account of a 19-year-old woman who reported being the victim of a robbery and sexual assault in Alicante. However, the accused was acquitted of rape.

There is no objective evidence to condemn him as the author of these facts. The court sentenced him to four years and three months in jail for robbery with violence. He was a repeat offender with a suspended sentence for another robbery.

The accused, who was acquitted of rape and represented by lawyer José Luis Sánchez Calvo, blamed his brother in court for the robbery and sexual attack. With his acquittal, he was spared a significantly harsher term, as the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution had requested 11 years and six months in jail for the sexual assault, in addition to the four years for the robbery.

The Third Section has sentenced the other two offenders, including the former’s brother, José Soler Martín, to two years and nine months in jail.

In addition to their prison sentences, the three defendants must reimburse the victim 71 euros, the value of the stolen property.

Versions change

The court notes in the ruling that the defendants’ statements, which changed their story several times and blamed each other for the robbery and sexual assault, “served to create confusion,” and “there is no evidence that would establish, with a minimum of certainty, which of the two brothers is the perpetrator of the sexual assault, or the direct perpetrator of the abduction.” The victim didn’t recognise either defendant, and the toxicological testing was negative.

However, the court finds three young men guilty of robbing a young woman in the early hours of July 11th, 2023, in the outdoor parking lot of the Plaza Mar 2 shopping centre in Alicante.

According to the evidence presented in the judgement, the three offenders planned a heist and used a car owned by the father of the two brothers on trial. Around 12:30 a.m. on July 11, they spotted a young woman strolling alone from Alfonso el Sabio Avenue to Jaime II Avenue. One of the brothers got out of the car to follow her, but it’s unclear which way. The other two turned around.

When they noticed that the car’s occupants were taking too long, they called the person who was following the girl, picked him up, and brought him back to her before he got out and followed her to the Plaza Mar 2 shopping centre’s open-air car park. When the assailant arrived, he went after the young woman, covered her mouth to keep her from yelling, and demanded her phone. He then led the young woman to a corner, demanding her card and the money she was carrying; after she handed him the card and 20 euros, he sexually attacked her. The assailant fled the scene in the automobile with the other two young males, who were waiting for him in a nearby parking lot.