Irish vacationer, 38, ‘fondled’ teen, 18, in Magaluf resort sauna throughout vacation with husband
A 38-year-old Irish woman will face trial in June after allegedly touching an 18-year-old Swedish man without consent in a hotel sauna in Magaluf last year
The 38-year-old Irish tourist was arrested last year (Image: MGE/SOLARPIX.COM)
A married woman who allegedly groped a teenager in a Magaluf sauna last year is set to go on trial.
The unnamed Irish holidaymaker, 38, has insisted she wants her ‘day in court’ to clear her name after she was accused of the sex attack last summer, which she denies. Yesterday, a preliminary hearing in the Majorcan capital Palma aimed at reaching a plea agreement collapsed without resolution. The public prosecutor was pursuing an 18-month jail sentence.
Joan Arbos revealed his client would maintain her innocence despite being arrested for allegedly groping an 18-year-old Swedish man’s genitals without consent in a Turkish steam bath at the four-star hotel where she was holidaying with her husband in Magaluf last June.
The tourist, whose identity remains protected by police, will now testify just over a year following her arrest. The trial has been scheduled for this coming June.
She was held overnight in a police cell last summer before an investigating magistrate freed her on bail and permitted her to return home whilst the criminal investigation continued. Public prosecutors brought charges against her late last year, seeking a one-and-a-half year prison sentence upon conviction in a three-page indictment.
The alleged attack is reported to have taken place around 6pm at the four-star Hotel Martinique in Magaluf on June 3 last year when the woman was 37. The indictment detailing the prosecution’s account of events alleges she sat next to him in the Turkish steam bath and “with a lustful spirit, taking advantage of the fact that no-one else was there and against his will, put her hands on his genitals and fondled them until he said: ‘No, no, no’ and left.”
In addition to the prison sentence, prosecutors are seeking to ban the Irish tourist from working with minors for two years longer than any jail term imposed, and they want her to cover court costs if found guilty. They’re also demanding she pays her male accuser €500 (£431) in compensation.
Two police officers are set to testify alongside the alleged perpetrator and victim. Mr Arbos confirmed: “The pre-trial hearing took place behind closed doors and no agreement was reached whereby a sentence could have ended up being read out there and then if my client had accepted wrongdoing and a plea bargain deal had been struck. She does not accept she committed a crime on the basis that what occurred was a simple misunderstanding.”
The Swedish teenage tourist alerted hotel staff who subsequently called the police following the alleged assault. Reports at the time stated the Irish woman was with her husband when the police arrived and escorted her away.
Mr Arbos stated shortly after her arrest that he intended to request the case be “discontinued” against his client on the grounds he “didn’t consider a crime had taken place”.
Following the incident at a Magaluf hotel, a spokesman for the Civil Guard stated: “The alleged sexual aggressor, who was in a sauna with a younger Swedish man, was accused of touching the victim’s private parts without consent.
“When officers arrived the victim was visibly upset. After carrying out inquiries, they proceeded to arrest the suspected offender, who was handed over to the courts.”
In Spain, prison sentences of two years or less are typically suspended for first-time offenders.
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