The Supreme Court has confirmed the sentence of 8 years and six months in prison for a man who repeatedly raped a woman in a field near Aranda de Duero (Burgos), after which he asked her if they were friends and could meet another day .
The events occurred in the early morning of April 25, 2021. That day, the convicted person went, along with other people, including the victim, to a party at a farm in Aranda, after having argued in a bar with his girlfriend about her infidelities.
After the party, the convicted man offered to take the victim and a friend to Aranda. But after leaving her friend, he drove to another place with the excuse of “having a drink”, which she did not know about, and which turned out to be a dark road near the Casa de Campo.
Once there, he tried to kiss her but she refused. Then, he pulled her out of the car by the hair, throwing her to the ground and dragging her, while she offered resistance, and although he was able to momentarily get away from the accused and tried to escape, he caught up with her, pounced on her and raped her.
Next, the convicted man opened a door and dragged the woman towards a nearby picnic area where he continued to rape her. Faced with the man’s threatening attitude and fearing for her life, she decided to try to stay calm and talk to him in a way that would reassure him, until she convinced him that she was not going to tell anyone what had happened and to take her to home.
It was then that the boy asked her if they were friends and would meet another day, to which she told him yes, that nothing was happening, and he was convinced of it and took her to his house, where the woman called the emergency room and was taken to the hospital by the police.
The Burgos Court sentenced him to six years in prison for a crime of sexual assault, which the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León later increased to eight years and six months when upholding the victim’s appeal.
And now the Supreme Court confirms the sentence by highlighting the “persistence and plausibility” of the victim’s testimony compared to the convict’s version that she was drugged and the relations were consensual.
Now, he refuses to apply the law of just yes it means yes because although the sentence goes from a range of between 6 and 12 years to 4 and 12 years, due to the circumstances in which everything occurred, due to “the humiliating situation” he suffered and “the clandestinity and impunity inherent to the place and time of the events,” considers the penalty proportional.