Three years in prison for a fake psychologist for sexually assaulting his roommate

The Alicante Court has sentenced a man to three years and three months in prison for pretending to be a psychologist and therapist to sexually assault his flatmate, who was only half awake at the time because she had taken sedatives the accused had told her to take to help her sleep.

According to the sentence, the incidents happened early in the morning of June 3rd, 2023, at the home in Alicante occupied by the accused, his wife and daughter, and the victim and his girlfriend, who was a friend of the accused.

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The prosecution says that the defendant, who is from Colombia, earned the woman’s trust by claiming to help her with her insomnia as a psychologist and therapist, even though he didn’t have the right qualifications.

The court said that the victim was only partly awake when the sexual assault happened because of the sedative medications that the accused had told her to take.

The court thinks it is proven that the defendant got into the room where the woman was at about two in the morning of the day in question. She was sleepy from the sedatives, and he sexually assaulted her by pretending to be her partner, doing oral sex and other touching, but it has not been proven that there was penetration.

The decision supports the victim’s account from when she filed the complaint, in which she indicated she couldn’t remember if there was penetration during the sexual assault.

In this case, the Alicante Court does not agree with the defendant’s arguments. He admitted that he went into the woman’s bedroom to check on her condition and said that he knew she had taken three tablets that he had suggested to her.

Then, as the defendant admitted in court, he got too excited and stroked her shoulder and chest after they started talking. But he still said he fled because the woman urged him to.

The court throws out that story and says that from the start, “the defendant’s intention was none other than to lull the victim to sleep, getting her to ingest three sleeping pills,” so that he could “satisfy his sexual desires for her,” taking advantage of the “dazed” state in which she was.

He further says that the victim “could not give free consent or minimally effective opposition” because she was asleep when the incidents happened.

The Alicante Court found the accused not guilty of professional intrusion by using the principle of “in dubio pro reo.” They said that just giving the pills to the person was not enough to prove that there had been an intrusion into the medical profession, even though the accused had claimed to be a psychologist.

So, he gets a three-year and three-month prison sentence, a restraining order that keeps him from being within 300 meters of the victim for five years, and supervised release for another five years.

You can appeal the verdict to the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV).

Author: Derek Appleton