A professor of English Philology at the University of La Laguna (ULL), Pedro José Domínguez, has been sentenced to 21 months and seven days in prison as the author of seven crimes of sexual abuse of as many students. In the oral trial, held on January 13, the accused admitted the facts of which he was accused: having touched his victims without consent and having made sexual comments towards them.
The defense requested that a sentence be handed down in accordance with the sentencing request formulated at that same hearing by the Prosecutor’s Office and to which the private prosecution, exercised by the victims’ lawyer and by the legal services of the university itself, adhered.
The Public Ministry described the events, which occurred between March 2014 and December 2017, as constituting seven crimes of sexual abuse, a criminal offense that disappeared in 2022 with the entry into force of the so-called Only Yes is Yes Law.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested as the main penalty a sentence of three months and one day in jail for each of the crimes, appreciating the simple mitigating circumstances of undue delays and repair of damage. Between the order to transform the preliminary proceedings into an abbreviated procedure (the step prior to the opening of the trial) and the holding of the oral hearing, five and a half years passed. Before sitting in the dock, the accused deposited in court the amount of 24,500 euros as compensation for the moral damages inflicted on his victims (3,500 euros for each of them).
Domínguez, who has been in the ULL for more than thirty years and has no criminal record, will not have to enter a penitentiary center. In the same act of the trial, the defense requested the suspension of the prison sentence and none of the parties opposed, with the condition that he does not commit a crime within a period of three years.
As a measure of “supervised freedom”, the ruling prohibits Domínguez from practicing the teaching profession for five years, but “outside the university environment”, so, in principle, he can remain linked to the ULL. It also requires him to take a sexual education course.
proven facts
According to the proven facts of the sentence, on March 14, 2014, at around 5:40 p.m., the professor of English Philology, “with the aim of satisfying his libidinous desires, without consent and in the context of his relationships with female students, at being a professor at the University of La Laguna,” he touched the hands and thighs and hugged one of his victims when he was alone with her in his office at the faculty.
That same day, barely 50 minutes later and in the same place and situation, he repeated these abuses with another student, “hugging her in his arms and rubbing against her.” The third episode, similar to the previous two, occurred on March 25, nine days later.
The other four crimes were committed in 2017. The first, in January, with a student who had gone to the teacher’s office to take an exam. In that place, Domínguez “insistently touched” the student, “intertwining his fingers” with hers and telling her that “it was convenient” for her to attend the tutorials.
On another occasion, “he touched her thighs, rubbing from the knee to the groin,” while telling her: “Imagine that we are two lovers and we wake up in the morning with the sun’s rays.” According to the proven facts, the professor kissed her on the cheek and, before she could leave, he also hugged her without her consent.
In May 2017, in the cafeteria of the same faculty, the accused approached another student and, under the pretext of telling her that “she had improved a lot in the second exam,” touched her hands and thigh “going up to her groin.” ” while inviting her to come to his office.
The sixth crime of sexual abuse took place in October 2017 in the hallways of the faculty. Seeing a student with a bandage, he began to touch her entire back “almost reaching her butt” while asking her “if he had done it in bed” because “she was a savage in bed.” At another time, the convicted man approached this same student when she was having lunch on some benches at the university, asked her if she had a partner, took her hands and touched her knees.
The latest events date back to December 2017, when he grabbed the arm and caressed the back of the neck of a student who was handing in a test at the end of a class.
The sentence of the Criminal Court 4 is final and requires the accused to pay the procedural costs.
The ULL studies the sentence “in depth”
Official sources from the ULL have told this newspaper that the ruling will be studied “in depth”, although they understand that, according to the literal wording of the ruling, “the professor cannot be disqualified” from carrying out university teaching activities.
From the university they point out that from the moment the facts became known, a disciplinary file was opened against Domínguez. The sexual and sexist harassment protocol approved by this institution in December 2014 (updated in May 2018) stipulates that if conduct is observed that could constitute a crime, the Rectorate will have to inform the Prosecutor’s Office and, if admitted For the case to be processed judicially, the ULL must appear as a private prosecution.
According to this protocol, the sanctions to be applied in case of violation for reasons of sexual and sexist harassment will be those included in article 96 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees. The scope of these sanctions, which range from warning to dismissal, will be established “taking into account the degree of intentionality, carelessness or negligence revealed in the conduct, damage to the public interest, repetition or recidivism, as well as the degree of participation”, states the standard.
From the ULL they regret the “tremendous delay” of the case, since the events for which Domínguez has just been convicted began in 2014, and they affirm that none of the victims continue at the university.
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