The Mossos d’Esquadra are investigating allegations of sexual abuse against former Barcelona youth football coordinator Albert Benaiges when he was a physical education teacher at the Barcelona school in the Les Corts neighborhood of the Catalan capital. The regional police yesterday accounted for “at least” one complaint and does not rule out that more have been presented at different police stations. The police force expects to collect all the information “in the next few days,” according to a spokeswoman for EL PAÍS.
Following a journalistic investigation, the newspaper Ara collects about 60 testimonies from people who claim to have suffered Abuses by Benaiges when he was a teacher in the 1980s and 1990s. The interviewees report that he masturbated in front of them, touched and organized sexual games. The Mossos investigate the events.
“That was not normal,” admits Dani, a former student of the Barcelona school, in conversation with EL PAÍS. “The Benaiges thing was an open secret, and when alumni meetings were held, the subject always came up” and he insists that the coach’s behavior “was not adequate.” “We were little, we were afraid of him and I remember watching us take a shower,” says the man. This former student also confirms how Benaiges forced two students to undress in front of the class to show how the boys and girls should wash, as he advanced Ara.
Dani also confirms the staunch defense that the school management made of the teacher when his parents reported to those responsible for the center that Benaiges had dragged him by the ear through the gym and insulted in front of other students. “The child lies,” said the management, who in the journalistic investigation declares that he “puts his hand on fire” for the former teacher.
The Department of Education has announced that it has opened a file to clarify “what has happened and what mechanism has failed,” as explained by the counselor González-Cambray. “We will make all the necessary changes so that a situation like this does not happen again,” he communicated on his Twitter account.
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Benaiges left FC Barcelona a week ago “for personal reasons”, as explained this Saturday by the president of the entity, Joan Laporta. “We are collecting information and when we have it all we will speak out. If we got to know everything that has come out, we would not have hired him, “he insisted. The former teacher worked for the club for 20 years in different positions, all linked to grassroots football between 1991 and 2011, and is credited with discovering Andrés Iniesta, among other footballers from La Masia. Later, he began a career as a coach and coordinator of different teams from the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and with the return of Joan Laporta to the presidency of Barça, he returned to the club as coordinator of grassroots football.
The coach of the entity’s first team, Xavi Hernández, assured at a press conference that “I was not expecting it.” “I am very surprised and affected because I did not expect it. I hope that justice makes its process, I can not say anything else, “he said. The coach, who coincided with Benaiges when he played in the lower categories of Barcelona, remarked that he has “no news” that the former coach carried out behaviors similar to those reported by the victims in his time at the Barça club. “It is a very delicate subject, very complicated. We have discussed it with the technical team because we love Albert (Benaiges) very much. He has surprised us a lot because we have always had an excellent deal with him “, he closed
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