A court has ordered a military-aged Moroccan man who illegally entered Spanish territory by boat and who is accused of having raped and beaten a 60-year-old woman to remain in prison while he awaits trial, sources from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands say. He faces charges of sexual assault, robbery with violence, and injuries and threats.
The Moroccan man, aged 25, was arrested by agents from Spain’s National Police last Wednesday, January 4th, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife—a city on the island of Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands—a mere five days after he had arrived on the Spanish islands, La Gaceta de la Iberosfera reports.
The 60-year-old female victim was on her way to work—and had been preparing to enter her office in the Olimpo building, next to the Plaza de La Candelaria—around 6:50 a.m., when the alleged assailant attacked her from behind, forcing her into the office.
Police sources confirmed to the Madrid-based online newspaper Libertad Digital that once the alleged attacker was alone with the victim in the office, he then raped her repeatedly and disfigured her face.
Sources close to the case have described the assault as unceremoniously “brutal,” and said they prefer not to provide any further details about the seriousness of the events, which “are still being investigated.” The same sources told Libertad Digital that the “assaulted woman had to be admitted” to the hospital, where she remained for “several days.”
Immediately following the sexual assault, the alleged assailant fled the scene but was intercepted by authorities before he managed to leave the building. Meanwhile, several witnesses assisted the victim and called emergency services, which arrived shortly thereafter and transferred the 60-year-old to the hospital.
According to investigators, the attack was recorded by the security cameras of the office. The recording lasts for one hour.
Since the beginning of 2023, six boats carrying some 200 migrants, all originating from the Moroccan or Saharan coasts, have landed illegally in the Canary Islands. Most have arrived on the island of Lanzarote.
In 2022, some 15,000 migrants arrived illegally in the Canary Islands.
