An 18-year-old has been sentenced to six years of closed detention for raping his four-year-old cousin at his home in Palma. The events occurred in August 2025, when the perpetrator, then a minor, was looking after the little girl and her siblings.
The Palma Juvenile Court has sentenced an 18-year-old to six years of closed detention for raping his four-year-old cousin at the family home in the Balearic capital. The ruling, issued by the juvenile court judge, establishes that the perpetrator took advantage of a moment when he was left in charge of the girl and her siblings to commit the sexual assault.
The events took place on August 19, 2025. The victim's mother had gone out to run an errand and asked the young man, who was then 17 years old, to watch over his cousins. The father was at work. According to the court ruling, when all the children were asleep, the teenager raped the four-year-old girl and then asked her not to tell anyone, promising her "a sweet".
That same night, the mother noticed that the little girl was complaining of pain while urinating. When asked what had happened, the girl recounted the incident in her own words and gestures. The next day, a medical examination confirmed that she had genital injuries. The parents filed a complaint with the National Police, and agents from the Family and Woman Unit (Ufam) arrested the young man.
During the investigation, the parents discovered that the boy had previously been convicted of two sexual assault offences when he was 14 years old, for which he served a year of detention in a centre. In the trial, held at the sa Gerreria judicial headquarters in Palma, the accused denied the facts and claimed that the injuries could have been caused by cleaning her forcefully after she had been to the bathroom.
The judge did not find that version credible. She highlighted the victim's "consistent and coherent" account, despite her young age, and noted that there is no reason for the girl to recount these events if they were not true. The ruling adds that the minor suffers from "a trauma that is compatible with having suffered a sexual assault" and has required psychological attention. It also mentions the parents, who "have no motive of hatred or revenge" and that "the only thing that drives them is to clarify what happened so that nothing similar happens again".
The imposed sentence is six years of closed detention, followed by five years of supervised release. Furthermore, the perpetrator is prohibited from approaching the victim for six years from his first release permit. The ruling underscores the special seriousness of the events due to the victim's vulnerability and the convict's previous record.
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