Walter Finch
THE Mayor of Estepona refused to answer any questions when he attended court today to testify as a suspect over allegations of sexual abuse.
Jose Maria Garcia Urbano, 61, only responded to questions from his own lawyer and stonewalled questions from both the public prosecutor and the complainant’s lawyer.
He had requested to testify ‘voluntarily and as soon as possible’ after a local police officer filed a complaint last month of alleged sexual harassment against both him and his wife.
But this morning Urbano chose to exercise his right, as a suspect, to refuse to answer questions that might end up incriminating him.
With the complainant already having given his statement, the Estepona court will now summon a witness as the next step.
The complainant’s lawyer, Antonio Granados Caballero, has told the Olive Press that he has submitted to the court ‘very strong’ video evidence to back up the claims.
“The case is in the hands of the law to take forward now,” he said. “We have to trust in the system to do its job.”
The mayor left the court house without taking any questions from the press.
But he reiterated in a statement that the complaint is ‘unfounded’ and his defence will request the judge to throw out the case.
According to the complaint, events began at the Parador de Málaga Golf Club in 2022, where the victim caught the eye of Urbano.
Over the course of 15 months, the mayor is accused of pressuring the policeman and his wife into sexual relations, employing both threats and inducements.
“From the very beginning, he felt that the accused was looking at him and talking to him in a special way, not in accordance with the normal working relationship that a mayor can have with his officials,” the complaint reads.
It describes the ‘libidinous intent’ the mayor had towards the young policeman.
“The latter, unable to believe what he was hearing, and with deep fear (in case such rejection could affect his job (he has two young children)), had no other choice but to accede to Mr. García Urbano’s sexual demands.
“In all the episodes, the complainant had to accede to the sexual demands of the accused for fear of losing his job and, as a consequence, not being able to support his family,” the complaint states.
But threats and pressure were not Garcia Urbano’s only tool, according to the document.
He offered the victim and his wife, who live in Cordoba, a helping hand of €2,000 a month and the promise of an apartment in Estepona to ‘continue satisfying his sexual desires.’
After this arrangement had been set up, García Urbano allegedly contacted the complainant ‘insistently and daily,’ in order to continue the sexual tryst with both him and his wife.
The mayor went so far as to say that ‘if he didn’t play along, his professional career was over forever’ and that ‘he was going to make his life impossible, since he has contacts that prevent him from working anywhere,’ according to the complaint.
“Feeling humiliated, [Garcia Urbano] ordered him to strip naked to have sex with him. [The victim] refused to do so, but Mr. García Urbano repeated to him that, if he didn’t, he would lose his job,” it continues.
It also alleged that García Urbano gave the victim ‘some blue pills’ in order to be able to fulfil his orders.
