Fuengirola court reopens sexual assault case

A FUENGIROLA court has reopened a case for which a Dutch national has spent the last 11 years behind bars.

Romano van der Dussen was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison for three sexual assaults committed in Fuengirola in 2003 after he was identified by two of the victims and a witness. However, his DNA did not match the genetic material found on one of the victims, said his attorney Silverio Garcia Sierra.

According to Sierra, a police report from 2007 said the genetic material found on the first victim matched the DNA of a British national who lived on the Costa del Sol at the time named Mark Philip Dixie, who was sentenced to life in prison in the UK in 2005 for the rape and murder of Sally Anne Bowman.

After a series of judicial mistakes, the Fuengirola Court has asked the UK for Dixie’s DNA and fingerprints, said Sierra. The defence attorney also points to inconsistencies in the victims’ testimony. “Every single suspect in the police line-up was dark-haired and my client was the only blonde,” he said and added that if it is proven that the British national sexually assaulted the first victim, he is very likely to have assaulted the rest of them.