Child abuser released due to victim's refusal to repeat evidence

She stares down at the Constitutional Court verdict without understanding anything. Ana, an assumed name for the mother of a girl who was sexually abused, says that two Madrid courts - one municipal and one provincial - considered it a proven fact that her daughter, now 15, was sexually abused when she was eight years old.

"I don't understand why her attacker is free, while my daughter has been left suffering from acute anorexia," she says.

On November 7, the Constitutional Court overturned these verdicts and acquitted Lucas Jerónimo G. A. of sustained sexual abuse against the child, who was best friends with his own daughter. It was during the victim's visits to her friend's house that she was subjected to the abuse.

But now, Constitutional Court justices have ruled that both lower courts violated the condemned man's rights to a trial "with full guarantees" because the child was not interrogated by the defense attorney, but instead told her story on a video recording. The highest court of law is demanding that the victim, now 15, go back to court to prove her case.

"The Constitutional Court is going to force my daughter to once again face the man who sexually abused her. And she is a weak child, who vomited and complained of stomach pains every time she was forced to recall those events," explains her mother. Ana, who has three other children, says that her daughter is still "in very bad shape," despite the seven years that have passed.

Lucas Jerónimo's two-and-a-half year prison verdict was overturned despite the fact that the minor's statements, as well as all the police and medical reports, were considered sufficient evidence in the lower courts. The Constitutional Court also admits that the defense lawyers did not object when the Móstoles judge decided, on the attorney's request, that the child would not have to undergo direct questioning in court.

Ana remembers what kind of questioning she herself was put through. "They hit me hard," she says. "His lawyer even asked me if my daughter had told me whether she'd heard him [the abuser] moan or make sounds indicative of sexual acts. I refused to answer."

"We will do everything in our power to ensure that justice is done, but I won't allow them to hurt my daughter, or to subject her to the kind of interrogation I went through. They also asked me why my daughter went to see him. As though an eight-year-old girl would seek out a 40-year-old man to have relations! It is indecent," Ana exclaims.

Above all, says Ana, she is afraid for her anorexic daughter, whose self-esteem is already so low, to have to recount her ordeal again. "I hope it helps her let go of all the rage she still has inside. I want to believe this will have a happy ending."

Ana cannot understand how a man who was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for abusing a little girl can walk free.

"He has caused a lot of pain. My daughter became anorexic and she has osteoporosis problems. He took advantage of the fact that his daughter and mine were close friends to do that to her. There is no justice."