The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has sentenced a trans woman to five years in prison for a continued crime of sexual abuse of her half-sister, a minor, when she still identified as a man.
The court, which partially upholds the appeal filed by the defense, halves the initial sentence imposed by the Malaga Court, which considered the facts as a continued crime of sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age and sentenced the defendant Juan M., today Irene M., 10 years in prison. In addition to the prison sentence, the TSJA prohibits him from coming closer than 100 meters from the victim, identified as C., for a period of 12 years, from communicating with her by any means and from compensating her with 7,000 euros.
According to the sentence, in mid-2019 the now defendant, who was then called Juan, appeared at the home of the minor’s mother in Antequera (Málaga), Concepción B., claiming to be her son and she welcomed him “in her house as his own son, and therefore as the brother of the minor C., who also came to consider him as a brother”. The defendant, 21 years older than C., remained there for a few days until he left home, while the minor, who had not yet turned sixteen, was admitted to a child protection center in Álora.
In October of that same year, C. escaped from the center with a partner and spent several nights in different places in the province of Malaga, including a park and a squat, in the company of his supposed half-brother. On November 1, the minor was located by the police and she re-entered a residence managed by the Messengers of Peace association.
However, the defendant and the minor continued to maintain telephone contact through a mobile phone that Juan had previously provided, and they continued to see each other until February 10, 2020, when the center seized the telephone, thus ceasing all communication between the two.
The court considers it proven that during the time that Juan M.G. he kissed the minor on her mouth and touched her intimate areas on several occasions. On the other hand, due to the contradictions expressed by the victim, he cannot accredit the carnal access and, consequently, the sexual assault.
For this reason, it sentences the then Juan, now Irene M.G., to 5 years in prison for a continued crime of sexual abuse of a child under 16 years of age aggravated by carnal access and prevalimiento.
