Suspect of raping a minor in Igualada was recorded following the victim
The judge considers there is solid" evidence he is the author of the "brutal" attack
BarcelonaUp to five security cameras recorded the man arrested for raping a minor in Igualada in the early hours of November 1. The video surveillance systems of five companies in the Les Comes industrial estate captured the man following the victim on her way to the train to return home after having been with some friends at Èpic nightclub. In one of its resolutions, first reported by El País, the judge claims the images constitute "solid" evidence indicating the man is the author of the "brutal" aggression, together with the fact that the Mossos d'Esquadra managed to locate his moble phone in the area at the time of the attack.
According to the judge, video surveillance cameras first captured the man near Èpic nightclub. Later different systems were able to record how the man was getting closer and closer to the victim, until he almost had her next to him. There is an interval of 20 minutes during which he is lost track of, a time when investigators suspect he may have committed the attack. Then, up to six more security systems record him leaving the scene towards the centre of Igualada, where he lived. He is dressed in the same clothes that the Mossos found during the search at his home, including the jacket on which traces of the victim's DNA were found, and in his hand he is carrying other clothes, which could be the ones he took from the victim, who suffered serious injuries from the attack, spent almost two months in hospital as a consequence and required five operations.
In fact, the magistrate stresses in his brief that, had it not been for the fact that a truck driver found the victim unconscious shortly after the events and the emergency services quickly assisted her, the young woman would have died as a result of the attack. After taking his statement, the judge sent the arrested man to prison. He has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of attempted murder, which could lead to a prison sentence of between 20 and 30 years.
Other vehicles and pedestrians ruled out
The devices that captured the aggressor and the victim also recorded other people and vehicles at the ends of the street where the attack took place. The Mossos d'Esquadra have analysed the movements of nine more pedestrians and 46 vehicles, but the police report "rules out" that any of them "stopped" or "any suspicious movements," the judge stresses. In the case of pedestrians, none of them actually reached Països Baixos street, as the rapist did.
On the other hand, the cameras captured how the aggressor "accelerated his pace" to approach the victim. Initially, between the camera recording the victim and the aggressor there is a time interval of over 40 seconds. The last of the cameras captures them in an interval of little more than two seconds.
The judge sent the suspect to prison because of the seriousness of the crime, the risk of flight, but also because of his previous record. The man, 20, has a history of sexual crimes and the judge considers that this history is sufficient to make "a prognosis of high risk" of further offences were he released.
