Four suspects arrested by the Guardia Civil, according to reports on Monday, are alleged to have committed a serious sexual assault on a 36-year-old woman, in a park in Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Mogán. The suspects are accused of a group attack that allegedly occurred last Friday when the victim, according to press reports of her statement, given on Sunday, had enquired about their situation when she was walking through a park area in the tourist town.
The Guardia opened an investigation following the complaint made by the woman, a foreign resident* who has lived for years on the south of the island with her family, claiming that while she was walking through the park area of the Agua La Perra barranco on Friday she says a group assault occurred, according to press reports of police sources close to the investigation.
The alleged victim first went to a health centre, where a doctor performed a check-up and issued a report detailing injuries thought to be related to the events. She then, on Sunday, presented her statement to the Guardia Civil making the denuncia (complaint).
The Guardia Civil, began their investigations to identify the alleged perpetrators, using the physical descriptions and testimony given by the alleged victim, which then led to the four suspects arrested for an alleged crime of sexual assault.
The four suspects are reported to be all of Maghreb/North African origin and had, it is believed, arrived on the island by boat in recent months. Having been admitted to temporary reception centres, set up in the municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán, they had subsequently been expelled. One of them, reportedly, already has a previous record for other crimes, including for involvement in events similar to those that occurred last Friday.
The suspects have been made available to the judicial district of San Bartolomé de Tirajana to take a statement.
The south of Gran Canaria has experienced at least one other multiple rape by a group of young people, within recent memory, when in the summer of 2018 a minor was attacked by five boys, who had even called themselves ‘La Nueva Manada’ in reference to a high profile group rape case that occurred in the Sanfermines of 2016, they were quickly detained by the National Police.
*sources speaking to Europress appear to have first suggested the alleged victim to be Irish, however sources close to the victim have corrected that she is in fact Nordic. They also state they she did not start the conversation as originally reported
