A British man has been charged with raping a female friend of his son at a Magaluf hotel, and faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.
The 43-year-old’s lawyers failed to strike a plea bargain deal with state prosecutors at a court in Majorca on Thursday.
The hearing in the island capital Palma ended with a trial date being set for February next year over the alleged sex attack in May.
The rape incident
The suspect, who has not yet been named by the police or court officials ahead of his trial, was held at Palma Airport after ‘packing his bags and trying to return to the UK hours afterwards.’
The British woman, thought to be aged around 20, told detectives she was forced to have sex after spending the last night of her holiday in the same room as her friend and his dad because she was due to return to the UK hours later and had already checked out of her own room.
The older man was said to have surprised her in the middle of the night after ‘taking advantage’ of the fact she had consumed a large amount of alcohol and was fast asleep on a sofa bed, despite her then waking up and begging him to stop.
Reports at the time said the dad’s son was still out partying.
The arrest
Police were alerted after she fled the unnamed hotel and raised the alarm at a Civil Guard office near to the Punta Ballena party strip in Magaluf in the early hours of May 9 this year.
Majorcan daily Ultima Hora said officers took a statement from her before going to the hotel and finding the man they were looking for had already checked out.
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He was arrested at his flight boarding gate, having allegedly brought his holiday to a premature end by rescheduling his return days before he was originally due to leave by buying a new ticket home.
An investigating magistrate ordered his remand in jail after he was hauled to court for questioning during a closed session, in which the alleged victim gave her version of events.
He is believed to have been held in prison since his arrest in May.
As well as a nine-year prison sentence if convicted as charged, state prosecutors also want the accused rapist hauled to court to pay his alleged victim £8,700 in compensation, should he be found guilty of the sex crime.
