Spain’s justice system is facing public backlash after a court in the Balearic Islands sentenced a 26-year-old Senegalese man to community service instead of prison for the rape of a 14-year-old girl.
The verdict, delivered this week by the Provincial Court of Palma, has been branded a “pact of shame” by opponents who say it reflects a wider pattern of judicial leniency in sexual violence cases.
Prosecutors had sought nine years in prison and €5,000 in damages. A plea bargain instead reduced the punishment to a two-year suspended sentence—meaning no jail time—on the condition that the defendant not reoffend for three years.
He must also complete 60 days of community service and pay €7,500 in compensation to the victim, of which €3,500 has already been paid.
The assault occurred in February 2020 in the Palma district of Son Gotleu, a densely populated area with longstanding social tensions. According to court documents, the man met the girl on Instagram and invited her to his apartment, where he forced her into sexual intercourse despite her resistance. The National Police later arrested him following the victim’s complaint.
The case has reignited Spain’s fraught debate over immigration and crime, while intensifying accusations that the justice system is too willing to reduce sentences in serious sexual assault cases.
The controversy comes amid rising public anxiety over violent assaults involving migrants and mounting pressure to tighten sentencing rules.
For the victim—now 20—the sentence ends a five-year legal process but not its consequences. For much of Spanish society, it raises a stark question: when does leniency stop being rehabilitation and start looking like impunity?
