Sentence reduced for man who raped a 13-year-old girl because she looked 16

BarcelonaThe High Court of Justice of Navarra has reduced the sentence of a man who raped a 13-year-old girl in the municipality of Burlada from 13 to 8 years and 6 months in prison, considering that the accused "could have reasonably considered" that the victim was 16 years old, the legal age of sexual consent in Spain. In this sense, the magistrates maintain that the facts judged cannot be considered rape, but only a crime of sexual assault, rejecting the principle that ignorance of the law does not exempt from compliance.

In the first instance, the Court of Navarra sentenced the man, 33 years old, after proving that he raped the minor during the town's main festival. In the review of the case, the High Court understands that, although there was sexual assault, it cannot be classified as rape because the accused could have understood that the girl was actually older. In this regard, the judges reason that the minor, at the time of the pre-constituted test –held one month after the rape–, was 1.68 meters tall and weighed 71 kilos. In addition, they consider that that night, when the minor was 13 years and 10 months old, she was accompanied by a 17-year-old girl and that a witness –a neighbor who saw her enter the doorway where the sexual assault was perpetrated– estimated that the victim was "about 20 years old."

In the early hours of the morning and with condoms

The court added that the events occurred at dawn, and that the minor was "in a considerable state of intoxication" and kissed the accused, and that she had three condoms in her belongings that she had bought hours earlier with her friend. The young woman informed the accused of this detail.

Therefore, according to the court, "it is perfectly acceptable" that the man "gained wrong knowledge or made a false judgment about this circumstance, that is, that he thought or rationally presumed that she was a minor under 16 years of age and that she did not."

The sentence, which can be appealed before the Supreme Court, stipulates that the accused cannot communicate with the victim or come within a distance of less than 300 meters for 10 years. In addition, he must comply with the measure of supervised release, to be executed after the prison sentence, of 7 years duration. In terms of civil liability, he must compensate the victim with 20,000 euros for the moral damage caused and with 225 euros more for the injuries. The man has been in provisional prison with communication and without bail for this cause since August 26, 2023.