Conviction. A judge has sentenced former media director Saül Gordillo to one year in prison for non-consensual touching in 2022 of one of the journalists of the digital channel he directed, Principal, during the party at the Apolo nightclub in Barcelona after the Christmas dinner. . The ruling is not final and Gordillo will appeal to the Barcelona Court.
Judge Maria del Pilar Calvo censures the defense thesis of Gordillo, who alleged that there was consent under some “signals” (the fact that the young woman danced with him or held his hand to cross the nightclub floor) that the judge considered insufficient and part of the past. Furthermore, he considers that Gordillo “was indifferent” to the consent of the complainant, and highlights the fact of the age difference and the hierarchical “prevalence” of the manager over the editor.
“The accused has not understood the more than necessary change of mentality and protection of women’s sexual freedom, by attributing to the victim herself signs of consent that cannot be valid today,” settles the resolution, which he calls “gratuitous” touching and highlights that Gordillo acted “furtively and oblivious to the views of third parties.”
Consent must be accredited, in addition to being free and prior.
Sentence in the Gordillo case
The proven facts of the sentence support the version of the Prosecutor’s Office and the victim, represented by lawyer Noe Martí. The magistrate concludes that Gordillo wanted to “attack the sexual freedom” of the victim, who at the time of the events was 23 years old, 27 younger than his then director.
Gordillo, the resolution continues, “sneaked up” to the victim, so that the young woman could not see how her director lowered his hand down her back until “he grabbed her buttocks and moved his hand looking for her vagina, without being able to reach it.” ”. A minute later, after ordering a drink at the bar, “he approached her from behind again and, with his left hand under her pants leg, he placed his fingers between her stockings and her pants.” shortswith the intention of masturbating her.”
The non-consensual touching caused the young woman an “obvious state of nervousness, anxiety and confusion” on the same night of the events and subsequent post-traumatic stress, the sentence adds.
Gordillo’s conviction for a crime of sexual assault is the minimum sentence, which does not imply his entry into prison as he has no record. However, the former director has another trial for sexual assault reported that same night in which he faces a greater penalty that could determine his entry into jail depending on the result of the hearing.
The judge also imposes on Gordillo, former director of Catalunya Ràdio and the Agència Catalana de Notícies (ACN), two years of supervised release, the same period in which he will be prohibited from communicating with the victim and will be disqualified from exercising professions that involve contact with minors.
In a statement, Gordillo’s defense, carried out by the lawyer Carles Monguilod, has announced that it will appeal the sentence as it “does not agree at all with the assessment of the evidence carried out by the judge.” The defense disagrees in particular with the assessment of the videos from the Apolo nightclub, which in Gordillo’s opinion “objectively show an interaction that justifies the interpretation that there was consent.”
“The accused has not understood the more than necessary change of mentality and protection of women’s sexual freedom”
Sentence in the Gordillo case
The trial served to reveal two opposing versions of consent. The accused manager, 50 years old at the time of the events compared to the victim’s 23, alleged that the young journalist flirted with him before arriving at the Apolo nightclub and took him by the hand to cross the dance floor, which he understood as an endorsement. to touch her buttocks. On the contrary, the young woman’s defense and the Prosecutor’s Office denied that there was any consent. “Holding hands and crossing the nightclub floor is not consent,” prosecutor Pilar Izaguerri concluded.
In her ruling, the judge ruled in favor of the thesis of the accusations and rejected Gordillo’s. The judge highlights that Gordillo is the only one of the more than half a dozen people who appeared at the trial who claimed that the young woman “cut the cod” and “flirted,” which she considered the pretext to touch her. But the magistrate rules it out: “There is no element or witnesses that allow us to infer that climate of flirtation in which, according to the accused, it started at all times.”
The judge also explains the application of the new ‘yes and yes’ law and the notion of consent to Gordillo’s case. The fact that the young woman did not react or reject the touching, the sentence states, “in no way justifies the claim to constitute consent, an extreme that was the origin of the change in approach with the reform” of the Penal Code for sexual assaults. “Consent must be proven, in addition to being free and prior,” the ruling adds.
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