A basketball coach faces 43 years in prison for sexually assaulting three underage players.

BarcelonaThe Public Prosecutor's Office has asked the Barcelona Provincial Court to sentence a basketball coach from the Catholic Center of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to 43 and a half years in prison, accusing him of sexually assaulting three of his players, aged between 14 and 15, when he was 20 years old. They are also seeking a ban on working with minors. The prosecution's indictment dates back to the 2017-2018 season. The coach was well-regarded and had a close relationship with the players on his team, the prosecution explains. During Holy Week in 2018, the entire team spent several days in Coma-ruga, in El Vendrell, to play in a tournament. The prosecution alleges that the first assault occurred on the last night the team stayed at a hotel in the town. According to the prosecutor, that night the coach sent a WhatsApp He approached one of the teenagers and told her to go to his room. There, he offered her rum and cola, and the young woman fell into a "semi-conscious state that prevented her from remembering almost anything until the following morning." During the night, the prosecution alleges, the coach took advantage of the girl's intoxication to have sex with her until she fell asleep. In the morning, she was dizzy and had difficulty walking, and he told her to go back to his room and not to tell anyone what had happened.

Two more cases

The other two victims listed in the prosecution's indictment had exchanged WhatsApp messages with their coach for weeks before the assaults. One of them had been chatting with him since April 2018; the man gradually gained her trust and in June invited her to his home, where they had sex. The third victim had also exchanged messages with the coach for weeks, in her case since May. The 15-year-old went to the coach's house twice in July, and they had sex.