The Judicial Police Team (EPJ) and the Guardia Civil of Puerto Rico-Mogán, have this week detained four men with the initials ME, AA, IY and BA, aged between 26 and 32, as the suspected perpetrators of a heinous sexual assault and abuse carried out in the early hours of December 26, 2016 at a southern shopping and leisure centre on Gran Canaria .

The investigation began as a result of the victim’s report of a crime, filed the same day, stating that an individual had raped her, after driving her to the back of a public place. After that first attack, a second man stood behind her and holding her tightly also tried to rape her, but the victim managed to keep up an intense struggle until she was able to flee.

The investigators initiated an investigation based on the victim´s own statement; leading them to obtain security recordings that could verify her version of events. However, they discovered that the reality was quite different from that reported by the victim.

The study and analysis of security recordings revealed that the victim had borne a far greater burden than she had believed, as that night five men had sexually assaulted her. The investigators have discovered evidence that the first aggressor isolated the victim, who was in a serious state of diminished physical abilities due to excessive consumption of alcohol and that despite expressing their negative and firm opposition to having sexual relations, he forced himself on her.

After that, three more men took turns to sexually abuse the tourist, while she lay unconscious on the ground as a result of alcohol. The suspects then left the victim lying on the ground for more than an hour until a fifth man arrived, and like the others he tried to sexually abuse the victim, except that on this occasion, she regained consciousness and maintained a struggle of more than two minutes until she could flee from this final attacker.

Identification, location and detention.

The Guardia Civil has been conducting intensive investigations to identify all the participants with the purpose of proceeding to locate, arrest and bring them to justice, actions that have been complicated by the fact that some of them were without papers, in an irregular situation and in unknown locations.

Finally, after several operations, between 18 and 23 of this month, those with the initials ME, AA, IY and BA were arrested for alleged crimes of sexual assault and sexual abuse.

The detainees have been transferred to the corresponding Courts, acting as a guard, in the town of San Bartolomé de Tirajana; having been released with charges and under precautionary measures. The investigation is still open and further arrests have not been ruled out.

Source:  La Provincia