PALMA – Spain’s national police arrested five young German tourists on Thursday for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of a fellow young woman in a hotel room in Playa de Palma.
The area is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Balearic Islands, especially for young people. Shortly afterwards, a sixth German was also arrested. According to sources, the last detainee had consensual sex with the young woman. However, the situation took a sinister turn when his five friends entered the room. Reportedly, some of them committed rapes, while others were complicit in this alleged assault.
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The five tourists are now charged with assault and are likely to be brought to court on Saturday. The gang rape is currently being investigated by the Units for Family and Women’s Care (UFAM) of the Spanish National Police. They cannot provide further details at this stage due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, they said.
Alarming increase in sexual assault cases in 2023
This year saw a disturbing wave of violence against women in all its forms. In Spain, the reported cases have increased by 10.9% in the first quarter of this year to a total of 46,327. Furthermore, the number of female victims has also increased by 11.5%. 45,154 women were affected compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from the General Council for the Judiciary.
In addition, the Ministry of the Interior has activated the Comprehensive Gender-Based Violence Monitoring System (Sistema VioGén). This currently records 77,213 active cases of gender-based violence. Of these, 46,040 women receive police protection. Of these cases 31 are classified as extremely high risk and 1097 as high risk. In addition, 11,364 women are classified as moderate risk, while 33,548 are considered low risk.
Related: One in five adult women in Spain is a victim of sexual violence
