Yzabelle Bostyn
A YOUNG man has been cleared of rape some two years after the original allegations were made, thanks to new CCTV evidence.
On June 4, 2022, a woman was found semi-nude with her pants around her ankles, crying and claiming to have no memory of what had happened to her.
It was 7am in the morning in the Retiro area of Madrid.
The Policia Nacional quickly attended the scene, alongside medical professionals from Samur-Proteccion Civil.
The alleged victim, a 41-year-old Peruvian woman said she had ‘very little memory’ of what happened.
Medical professionals discovered she had not suffered injuries but she maintained she was a ‘victim of rape’.
An investigation was opened into the case by Madrid’s justice department.
Spain’s Family and Women Department (UFAM) took charge of the probe, alongside Policia Nacional.
They found few pieces of evidence, one of which was a used condom found in the area.
Police interviewed two women who the alleged victim had gone out with that evening.
They were in Ozona, a nightclub on Avenida del Mediterraneo, the same street where the woman was found.
It is believed the friends left the club early, leaving the woman there alone.
Investigators used these clues to get CCTV footage, as well as interviewing two residents of the building closest to where the woman was found.
One of them confessed to hearing two people talking in the apartment complex at around 5:45am.
The resident saw the woman asleep, semi-nude, on a bench and called 112.
The alleged victim’s boyfriend also made a statement to police weeks after the event.
Police also tested the condom but it was found to be unrelated to the incident.
Six months later, when CCTV images were given to UFAM, investigators were able to identify two men leaving the club.
The main suspect was a 28-year-old Ecuadorian man who was seen getting money out of an ATM near the club.
Following the CCTV footage, investigators determined that the alleged victim and attacker left the club together.
They had sexual relations in a doorway near the club, but they were considered consensual.
On June 13 2023, the woman maintained her version of the story in court.
The man’s defence team, lead by Beatriz Uriarte, asked for the case to be thrown out.
However, the case was only just resolved on January 8, when a Madrid court absolved the Ecuadorian man of any wrongdoing.
