57 years in prison for the Barberà pedophile who tortured his cousin

BarcelonaXavier Padial left the courtroom almost unfazed, handcuffed and surrounded by six Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police officers), heading straight to the cells. The Barcelona Provincial Court had just announced, a few minutes before 1:00 p.m., that he was sentenced to 57 years in prison for torture, as argued by the prosecution during the trial, and for the continuous sexual abuse of two of his underage cousins and for inducing one of them into prostitution. Furthermore, this confessed pedophile from Barberà del Vallès is also convicted of producing and possessing pornographic material. But the man will only have to serve the maximum effective sentence: 20 years.

The ruling, which can be appealed in the next ten days, also includes compensation for the two young victims: 400,000 euros for Laura—a fictitious name to respect the identity of the girl, who was 23 years old at the time of her testimony—who suffered abuse from the age of 7; and 80,000 euros for the other relative, who also suffered sexual abuse from her relative. For the continued abuse of minors under the age of 13, the court imposed a sentence of 15 and 12 years in prison; for the production of pornography, 9 and 8 years; for inducing one of the two minors into prostitution, he receives a sentence of 12 years; and an additional year for possession of pornography. In total, 57 years, one less than what the private prosecution had requested.

A toy

The ruling by Section 21 of the Barcelona Provincial Court comes eight months after the trial, which took place between October 14 and 16. At the time, the Prosecutor's Office strongly criticized the defendant and held him responsible for the "torture" Laura suffered for 11 years. The harshness of the young woman's account, which also included threats and coercion, led the prosecution to believe that Padial had completely "brain-wiped" her cousin. "She was a plaything in the hands of the accused," the prosecutor stated in his closing remarks. The young woman recounted how, before meeting with the clients, her cousin, who was twice her age, "groomed" her and sexually abused her: "I had to have sex with him to do it right with the clients."

Padial attempted a deal before the trial: admitting to the assaults in exchange for twelve years in prison and compensation of 90,000 and 30,000 euros, respectively. Both the Prosecutor's Office and Laura objected. This allowed the criminal proceedings to move forward, and during his statement at the Barcelona Provincial Court, the man admitted that he had abused his young cousins. Penetrative sexual relations occurred when the girls were six or seven years old, according to the prosecution's lawyer, Ángel Aso, who requested a 58-year prison sentence for Padial. The defendant was found with nearly 60,000 images of child pornography and thousands of sexual videos. Although graphic material of the man sexually assaulting the minors was provided, the defense argued throughout that their client did not produce pornography and denied that he prostituted his cousin.

However, the Mossos d'Esquadra officers who gave their testimony described how he was in charge of "publishing advertisements offering sexual services", he "impersonated" the minor and "made contact with clients". Through different platforms, such asPassion.com, sexual services were advertised, in which Padial also participated at one time. All of this while she was still a minor: she was thirteen or fourteen when she started. In return, Padial gave her cousin a symbolic tip.

During the trial, Laura had to view the images that were part of the case, in which the two victims assaulted by Padial and, in this case, also by third parties appeared. It was one of the hardest moments of the trial that It was held in October and which the defense attempted to overturn due to a court error, which allowed her presence in Laura's courtroom before giving her statement. Padial requested a six-year prison sentence because he considered there were mitigating factors: he made a payment to compensate the girls, there had been delays in the proceedings, and he confessed to the assaults on the two minors.

The case was uncovered by chance in 2019. The girl, who was working with some friends, left WhatsApp open on her computer. Then, in the office of criminal lawyer Ángel Aso, it was discovered that the girl was hiding the sexual encounters with her clients. And the one who organized it was her cousin.