A former Spanish basketball coach has been sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl

BarcelonaMario López, former Spanish youth basketball coach and former coach of Lointek Gernika, has been sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison for the continued crime of sexual assault of an underage player. The sixth section of the Biscayan court considered it proven that in 1998, when the victim was 13 years old, the defendant, aged 31, sexually assaulted the minor on around fifty occasions, behaviour that was "increasingly relevant in terms of frequency and intensity".

The sentence, which can be appealed before the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country, concludes that the defendant acted taking advantage of the knowledge he had of the personal and family situation of the minor, "exercising the position of power conferred on him by the difference in age", as well as the status of coach and the "fear" that she felt. It also highlights that the minor participated in these meetings "without giving any kind of consent, with her will bent by the control exercised by the defendant as a result of all these circumstances" mentioned.

The court highlights the credibility of the girl's story and states that her testimony "seems to have an undoubted intrinsic consistency due to the logic and coherence of the explanations, the details offered […] and the description of the context in which they occurred", without this being appreciated. The court considers it proven that the complainant's will was ignored "with violence and intimidation", and that there was no room "for any consent".

In the last of the sessions, which lasted more than four hours, the experts maintained that the complainant suffers from post-traumatic stress, and all the parties involved in the process raised their initial assessments to final. Thus, the public prosecutor requested a sentence of 14 years in prison for the accused, as well as a ban on approaching the place where the victim resides for a period of ten years and compensation of 20,000 euros. For its part, the private prosecution raised this request to just over 18 years in prison. The defense requests acquittal.

The newspaper The Country published at the end of 2023 the victim's testimony, who is currently 38 years old. "I suffered anal penetration and countless fellatio," he said. Lointek Gernika, which had already removed the then-investigated player from his coaching duties to dedicate him to management work, fired him. "We stand in solidarity with all the victims who have suffered harassment, abuse or aggression, and especially with the complainant in that case," the Basque club said in a statement. The entity regretted not having been aware of the reason for the complaint. In addition to training the Biscayan team, López was also the coach of Spain's women's basketball team in the under-16, under-18 and under-19 categories.

The defendant made use of his right to testify and in his final statement defended that the relationship he had with the complainant, who accuses him of a crime of continued sexual assault between 1998 and 2001, was "one of respect and affection." López denied having sexually assaulted anyone and recalled that throughout his professional career he has trained 4,000 minors. The basketball coach limited their relationship to contacts of a "platonic" nature, "nothing," walks on the beach and love letters to the minor. "He has never assaulted anyone, much less sexually," he said.

The defense attorney had asked for López's acquittal, considering that the events were limited to "two or three approaches, without any penetration and with clothes, a conduct that is unpunished and is not penalized." The prosecution, on the other hand, said in its brief that the victim had López as a basketball coach from the age of 10 to 16, and that, from July 1998, when the man was 31 and she was 13, and for three years, he took her "with excuses" to his house, where he sexually assaulted her. The minor was "scared" of her coach, who was "aggressive or disproportionately demanding with her during training."

Mass gathering

During the trial, dozens of protesters gathered to support the victim. Gernikako Sare Feminista spokesperson Arlette Apraiz put words to the feelings of those present. "The people are with her. She will not return to the Gernika she had to leave in her day. Regardless of the sentence that is handed down, we have taken very important steps in the process of reparation for the victim," she said.