The sentence of 9 years' imprisonment has been confirmed for the man who sexually assaulted his 15-year-old daughter

The Navarre High Court of Justice has upheld the nine-year prison sentence imposed on a man who sexually assaulted his 15-year-old daughter by the First Section of the Provincial High Court in April.

As stated in the judgement, which may be appealed to the Supreme Court, the Civil and Criminal Division of the High Court confirms, with the aggravatingcircumstance of superiority by kinship , the penalty of imprisonment for continued sexual assault of the minor, withcompensation of €1 million for moral damage to the victim.

The defendant may not approach less than300 metresfrom the girl or contact the complainant for 10 years. In addition, once he's served his prison sentence, he must be on probation for another 10 years. 

It has been proven that the defendant lived in the family home with his wife, daughter born in 2008 and his brothers and sisters.

Since the beginning of 2023, the accused had made various touches to the minor, which he described as "strange", as stated in the judgement. In August and October, the man sexually assaulted the minor.

The defence appealed the sentence imposed by the court to the High Court of Justice of Navarre and requested acquittal. The prosecution and the private prosecution, for their part, supported the ratification of the resolution. 

His mother didn't believe him.

The High Court states in its judgement that the Hearing based its conviction on the victim's statement and the psychological evidence provided by the experts, as well as on the testimony of witnesses who confirmed the charges.

In this regard, the Chamber describes the testimony of the minor as "credible, reliable and consistent", as well as "very accurate".

In addition, the minor's version was corroborated by the statements of the deputy principal of the school where he was studying. The girl told him, for the first time and in writing, of the sexual abuse she had suffered. Subsequently, the director of the centre and an employee of the Juvenile Observation and Reception Centre were also informed of these events.

During the trial, the motheralso declared  and took a stand against her daughter. She declared that she had not observed any improper conduct on the part of her husband (the girl's father), and that she did not believe that what she had said had happened. She said her daughter accused her of "being free" and "being able to play games on the Internet."

The defence said that the girl had filed a complaint for specific purposes, either to prevent her father from depriving her of electronic devices and freedom of action (limited by the strict religious values of her parents), or to impose a desire for the child to continue to live in Spain in the face of the parents' decision to return to his country of origin.

The Chamber considers that "there is no basis for saying that he made the charges for these purposes" and the judge considers that the minor's statement is sufficient to prove the charges against the man.