The Provincial Court of Almería has ratified the two-year prison sentence for former international volleyball player Cosme Prenafeta for sexually abusing two 18-year-old players from the team of which he was coach and whom he kissed “without their consent” after dinner at a Christmas lunch that he organized at his home in December 2020.
The judicial resolution, consulted by Europa Press, rejects the appeal filed by the defense and confirms the original sentence handed down by the Criminal Court number 4 of Almería by considering that the statement of those affected was “plausible” and “credible.” », without «spurious motives» having been detected in the complaint, since the psychological report derived from the examination of both injured parties corroborates the elements of their version.
In this sense, the court considers that the evidence presented during the trial was evaluated correctly and is sufficient to refute the presumption of innocence of Prenafeta, including the expert report provided by his defense in which the profile of the victims despite the fact that the proposed expert did not examine them directly, according to the sentence.
With this, the Second Section supports the criterion followed by the trial judge, who after analyzing “in conscience” the testimony offered in court by both complainants, concluded “outright” the “absolute nonexistence of the consent of the two girls” in the kisses that the accused gave them, which “were surprising, unexpected and unpleasant.”
He thus highlighted that Prenafeta, 51, “expressly acknowledged having kissed the two girls on the mouth,” although he assured that he had done so with their consent, but added that, “in no way can it be seen that they consented.” as can be inferred from his statements at police headquarters, before the investigating judge and at the oral hearing.
The original ruling also alludes to the fact that both the complainants and the accused “agreed to highlight the good relationship” they had prior to the events and rules out that both “wanted to harm the person who was their coach” since they were 14 years old, and whom “They considered and loved him like a father.”
The judge stressed that there is no “reason to doubt” the testimony of both young women, who gave “being clearly affected by what happened” due to both their “immaturity despite their recently coming of age and in relation to the age of the accused.” » as well as «the fraternal relationship that united them with him in the sporting field».
“Neither of the two wanted to be kissed by the accused, they did not expect to be kissed by him, they were not comfortable with this fact, nor did they seek it, nor did they consent,” the sentence states, detailing how “on repeated occasions, both spontaneously showed the “rejection of what happened.”
He refers, thus, to expressions such as “he wanted to stick his tongue in me but I resisted; I didn’t want to, I pushed him away with my arms; we used going to the bathroom as an escape route; It came on top of me, it tried to separate me, I felt like a puppet; “She didn’t understand what was happening, she was scared, she was in shock or we told her we didn’t want to play the game of taking off clothes and we told her we didn’t want to shower.”
A kiss of “sexual nature”
The Criminal Court 4 of Almería also focused on the “sexual nature” of a kiss on the mouth and recalled that doing so without the consent of the person involved “involves an attack on the sexual freedom and indemnity of the person affected.”
To weigh the sentence against the public and private accusations that involved sentences of two years in prison for each of the two crimes of sexual abuse, the judge took into account the “collaborative attitude of the accused at all times” although she imposed a distance from him. for a period of three years with respect to both victims.
Regarding civil liability, it set the amount at 3,000 euros for each one given the “affectation and suffering already caused” to the young women, the “possible influence of the events on the future of their personal relationships and the forensic report of the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) who diagnosed them with »anxious-depressive symptoms« as a result of what they had experienced.
The sentence included as proven facts that the young women attended a Christmas meal at Cosme Prenafeta’s house along with other team players in 2020 and that, once in the afternoon, only the three of them remained in the house “consuming alcoholic beverages and participating in a game that consisted of questions of a sexual nature and drinking shots of alcohol.
It indicates that Prenafeta, “in order to satisfy his lustful desires,” approached one of them in the living room and grabbed her by the neck with one hand to give her a kiss on the mouth “that lasted several seconds.” It deepens that she “tried to separate and pushed away” the accused with “her arms reaching back.”
While this was happening, his partner had gone to the bathroom and left the room. It was later, once he had returned and they were cleaning up the house, when Prenafeta tried on “three occasions” to abuse the second victim in the kitchen, on the terrace and in a room. “At three different times, he kissed her on the mouth and on her neck, one time reaching out to touch her buttocks with his hand over her clothes,” she details.
On the other hand, the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Roquetas de Mar this summer summoned Prenafeta as an investigator for a second case of sexual abuse of a minor that is still under investigation.