Igualada rapist's coldness: in court three hours after the assault

BarcelonaBrian Raimundo Céspedes listened impassively, as if it had nothing to do with him, as his victim appeared before the judge and told of the "horror" she has gone through. This is not the only evidence of the man's coldness. The evidence collected in the investigation's summary, to which ARA has had access, also points in this direction. Just the day after the brutal assault on the minor, the detainee – who remains in custody – went to Igualada's courts to appear in a follow-up hearings for his probation – he had been sentenced for assaulting a former partner.

The girl with whom he then had a relationship, which ended shortly before his arrest, accompanied him to court, as she explained when testifying to the police. The man had an appointment at a quarter to ten in the morning, three hours after attacking the minor and leaving her badly hurt and unconscious in Les Comes industrial estate. In fact, as far as Cespedes's ex-partner remembers, he told her little about that night: only that he had gone out with two friends, that the police had been about to arrest one of them for "having broken a car" and that he had only "been on the street". She saw no bruises or marks anywhere, and his attitude in the days that followed continued as usual. No remorse.

During her statement to the police, the young woman described Céspedes as "narcissistic, aggressive and very unpredictable" and accused him of attacking her up to five times. The first, he dragged her downstairs from the building where they lived and after beating her up, took her back upstairs and sexually assaulted her. "Whenever he came home drunk or jealous, he always hit me," the girl said, who still refused to report him.

DNA and GPS

The police arrested Céspedes on April 21. When searching his home, officers located the black jacket that the man was wearing the night of the attack. Forensic experts found twelve samples of the victim's blood. This test, according to police investigators, "definitely and unequivocally evidences the accused's guilt".

In fact, it was not only DNA tests cornered Céspedes. His phone's geolocation places him in the place and at the time the assault took place. In addition, 155 video surveillance cameras captured the alleged assailant following the victim on the night of the crime. First from a distance, and then speeding up his pace until he was practically on top of her. The clothes worn by the man in the images match those worn by Céspedes that night, as recalled by his ex-partner, and are also those found in the detainee's house, who remains in prison on remand.

After this week's statements, the investigation enters its final stretch. At the moment, the judge accuses Céspedes of attempted murder and sexual assault. Nighlife employers' association Fecasarm and nightclub Èpic, who have started a separate prosecution, have already announced they will seek an "exemplary" sentence of over twenty years in prison. The association's lawyer and secretary general, Joaquim Boadas, insists the case must be used to prevent attacks of this type from happening again, and calls for more prevention and awareness measures from the administrations, as well as a reinforcement of police surveillance and higher frequency of public transport.