A serving RAF serviceman has been arrested in Majorca after a British holidaymaker accused him of raping her at a four-star Magaluf hotel.
The suspect, based in the UK but born abroad, was hauled to court in handcuffs this afternoon in the island capital Palma after being held overnight in a police cell. The unnamed man, thought to have travelled to the island to take part in a rugby tournament with pals, was detained yesterday at the airport shortly before he flew back to Britain.
His female accuser told police he had forced himself on her at a hotel in Magaluf she was staying at after meeting up with her at a bar in the party resort a few hours earlier and spending time with her on the beach. The alleged sex attack is said to have happened around 5am on Monday on a terrace at the hotel.
The 27-year-old appeared at Palma Criminal court this afternoon (SOLARPIX.COM)She told detectives her aggressor had ripped her dress and forced her to perform a sex act on him before raping her. Civil Guard officers are understood to have discovered the identity of the suspect hours after she filed a formal complaint. They headed to Palma Airport to intercept him, after discovering he had left the hotel where he was staying, which was different to the one where the alleged sex attack took place.
He was pictured entering court in handcuffs late this afternoon, dressed in the same clothes he was wearing when he was arrested, for a hearing that will take place behind closed doors to determine whether he should be remanded in custody or released pending an ongoing criminal probe.
The accuser was examined as part of a standard forensic medical examination. The Civil Guard, which carried out the arrest and held the detained man overnight in police cells, has yet to make any official comment.
But a well-placed source on the island described him as a serving member of the UK armed forces who was born abroad but lived in Britain and worked for the RAF. Another said: “He was in Majorca on holiday with a group of rugby players who had come to the island to take part in an event. He was arrested shortly before he boarded his flight back to the UK.”
Meanwhile, in a separate case, a British 18-year-old was allegedly gang-raped at a hotel in Magaluf in the early hours of August 14 last year. Five French nationals and a Swiss man were arrested and remanded in jail pending an ongoing judicial investigation, and a further two suspects were subsequently held in France on European Arrest Warrants. The criminal probe is still ongoing.
A British tourist was handed a four-year prison sentence at a court in Palma earlier this year after confessing to raping his son’s female friend in a Magaluf hotel room. Spanish public prosecutors said before David McPaul Wigging’s February 5 trial they wanted him jailed for nine years if convicted of the May 9 2023 sex attack.
The 43-year-old also struck a plea bargain deal through his lawyer ahead of the full trial. It was confirmed he would receive a four-year prison sentence during a subsequent brief public hearing, although he will only serve two years behind bars.
He will be expelled from Spain on May 8 next year once he has completed half of his sentence. The time he has already spent behind bars as a remand prisoner has been taken into account in determining the two-year time limit.
Gangsters ‘call for ceasefire’ after deadly Christmas Eve pub shooting
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
