CLEARED: Three British men acquitted of gang raping a woman in Benidorm

THE Court of Alicante has cleared three British men accused of gang raping a fellow Brit in Benidorm, due to ‘a lack of evidence’.

The case has been on-going since October 2011, when the incident was reported.

According to judge, the only solid evidence obtained was the alleged victim’s initial statement.

A court hearing was held in December 2018, when all three defendants returned back to the Spanish Costa from the UK. The alleged victim did not appear at the court hearing to testify.

The original prison penalty demanded by the Prosecutor’s Office was 30 years.

The charges were for the alleged sexual assault and for ‘helping one another to carry out the rape’.

The defendants and their solicitors, Alejandro Dartis and Laura Rubio, were looking for a non-guilty verdict.

The incident occurred in the early hours of October 30, 2011, in a block of apartments in Benidorm.

According to the victim, she had consensual intimate relations with one of the defendants in an apartment where he was staying.

She had allegedly fallen asleep in a different room, when the other two defendants woke her up and proceeded to sexually assault her along with the first defendant.

The offenders have denied the claims and state that the alleged victim’s statement was made as a revenge act because they had ‘thrown her shoes out of a window’ when returning to the apartment and finding her asleep there.

The woman immediately went to the local police station to report the alleged sexual abuse, and arrests were made.

The ruling indicated that there is insufficient evidence to convict the three men as the medical reports did not reflect the aggression reported by the alleged victim.

The woman presented several superficial injuries, one on her left forearm and another on her right elbow.

According to the defendants, the cut on her left elbow was caused after she fell in a local pub where they met.

There were traces of blood in the apartment, but the police officers who investigated the premises said it was more likely the remains of the injury from the earlier fall.

Judges have stated that they can’t conclude that the report was false, but there is no evidence to support the requested conviction.