A former contestant on Big Brother Spain has been jailed for 15 months and fined £5,300 for sexually assaulting a female contestant after she was intoxicated and unconscious.
Jose Maria Lopez assaulted Carlota Prado after an alcohol-fuelled party while filming the TV show in 2017, when the victim was in a clear state of inebriation.
The footage was never aired, and the producers came under fire for their handling of the incident in which they confronted her with the video evidence the next morning in the Big Brother confession room, causing her to break down.
Jose Maria Lopez went on trial in November with the court sentencing him to ’15 months of prison for a sexual abuse offence against Carlota P. A. that took place in the early hours of November 4, 2017′, court documents showed today, April 17.
The court also imposed a ‘four-year restraining order on him during which he must have no contact with the victim, and pay her 6,000 euros (£5,300) in compensation’, part of which must be paid by the Spanish production company that made the show.
The judge said Lopez – who was ‘driven by a lustful impulse, knowing Carlota P.A. was in a drunken stupor that would later lead to unconsciousness’ – had ‘removed her trousers while they were in bed and begun making sexual movements under the duvet’, despite the victim saying ‘I can’t’.
‘The defendant’s lewd movements continued for several minutes, until the victim’s face and arm were uncovered, revealing her unconscious state, prompting (the producers) to intervene,’ he wrote.
Lopez was immediately kicked off the show.
Despite López receiving a 15-month sentence, it is unclear whether he will spend any time in jail.
Under Spanish law, people who receive a sentence of less than two years and have no prior criminal record do not always have to serve time in prison.
The story only became public two years later when El Confidencial news website released footage of the moment the producers confronted her in the confession room in which she can be seen breaking down and pleading with them to turn it off.
The trial had been due to start in February 2022, but it was delayed until November 2022 because Prado was struggling with her mental health and didn’t feel able to testify.
