Section 5 of the Provincial Court of Murcia (based in Cartagena) has sentenced ALZ, a priest first in San Pedro del Pinatar and then in Yecla, to sentences totaling nine years in prison for two crimes of sexual abuse of minors, in addition of the probation measure for seven years, once the custodial sentence has been completed and the obligation to compensate the two minors with 8,200 euros.
Specifically, he is considered the author of a crime of sexual abuse of a child under 13 years of age for grabbing the penis of a child when he was playing with a video console at home, and of a continued crime of sexual abuse of a child under 16 years of age. for touching a boy’s genitals on several occasions, “to satisfy his sexual appetite” and taking advantage, in both cases, “of his priestly status and friendship with them and their family.”
The defendant is also prohibited from approaching less than 500 meters and from communicating by any means with minors for 9 and 10 years, respectively.
The sentence declares it proven that the defendant, in the exercise of his priestly function in the first parish, made friends with several families, gained the trust of those mentioned and other minors, whom he took in his vehicle to go fishing or to the beach, invited them to ice creams and talked to them frequently, lavishing themselves with hugs and kisses. He further adds that “often and in a group he would have sexually content conversations with them, in which he would ask them about the size of their penis, or how often they masturbated.”
The magistrates reach the conviction that the events charged by the Public Prosecutor occurred on the basis of the testimony of the victims, “after assessing it through the well-known jurisprudential criteria of credibility, credibility and persistence” and the recognition by the accused party of the acts “even though he denies their sexual significance”, in addition to “a joint vision of what happened”.
Finally, the court imposes special disqualification from any profession or trade, whether paid or not, that involves regular and direct contact with minors for a period of 10 years.
The sentence is not final, against it it is possible to file an appeal before the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia.
In an order notified on Tuesday, the Chamber agrees to the provisional detention of the defendant, requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution, understanding that the “seriousness of the sentences imposed here”, which exceed 9 years in prison, add those imposed by this same court in a sentence of May 3, 2022, in which he was sentenced for another crime of sexual abuse to seven years and nine months in prison. “There is no doubt that the new sentences, whose sum exceeds 16 years, have significantly increased the risk of flight, given the natural and human inclination that can be attributed to all prisoners that they will try to avoid serving a prolonged sentence of imprisonment. freedom through flight and concealment.
