A 12-year-old girl who was allegedly gang-raped by five or six classmates during a birthday party in Burgos, Spain, has returned to school alongside her alleged attackers after they served only a one-week suspension — with police confirming none of those involved can face prosecution because they fall below Spain’s age of criminal responsibility.
The alleged attack took place at a public venue outside the children’s school during a birthday party, according to Diario de Burgos. All those involved are aged just 11 or 12, placing them below the legal threshold at which children can be held criminally responsible in Spain. Police have instead passed a full report on the allegations to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office for separate proceedings.
The school’s response has proven highly controversial. The boys accused were expelled but allowed back through the gates after just one week, with both the alleged victim and the accused now attending lessons again. The boys are reportedly being kept separate from other pupils, alongside several classmates, in a measure the school says is intended to “avoid their stigmatisation.” The girl’s family first reported the alleged attack to police last month, after which an investigation was launched. According to Diario de Burgos, she was left traumatised both physically and emotionally in its aftermath. Education authorities in Burgos and the wider regional school community are understood to be fully aware of the case.
The case emerges just weeks after a separate and unrelated investigation was launched into alleged sexual assaults against schoolgirls as young as 15 during a Mediterranean cruise. Up to ten girls, all pupils at the same school in the Basque Country, went to police after the ship docked in Barcelona on 1 May, with eight victims giving statements in Barcelona and a further two in the Basque Country. A Guardia Civil spokesperson in Barcelona said: “We were made aware of alleged incidents involving minors when the cruise liner docked here on May 1. The possible authors would be adults. Officers received several complaints and have taken a number of statements and an investigation is ongoing. A local court has been informed and it will be up to the court to determine what happens next.”
A well-placed source said police were investigating whether the girls had been given alcohol or drugs before the alleged assaults took place, adding: “This is being treated as an investigation into possible sexual assaults. Under Spanish law, this covers a multitude of different types of behaviour, ranging from inappropriate touching to rape. We are not going to specify exactly what allegedly happened, but we are not talking here about rape but other types of behaviour which are also criminal.”
No arrests have been made in the cruise case, though local reports have identified the suspects as a couple in their twenties who were not part of the girls’ group and were not on the cruise as fellow passengers. Sources close to the investigation said the pair have been identified and located. The Basque Government’s Security Minister, Bingen Zupiria, confirmed police in the region had received two formal complaints.
