Man jailed for five years for rape of Irish student in Spain

Police found a cannabis farm inside his home after going to arrest him following a complaint from his victim. Picture: AP Photo/Manu Mielniezuk

A man has been jailed for five years after being convicted of raping an Irish student on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

The 33-year-old went on trial last month for forcing himself on the woman, who was in Alicante on an Erasmus study programme.

Late on Thursday, it emerged he had been handed a four-year jail sentence after being convicted of rape and a separate one-year prison term on a drugs charge.

Police found a cannabis farm inside his home after going to arrest him following a complaint from his victim.

The attacker insisted after going on trial at the Audiencia Provincial Court in Alicante on February 15 that he had “consensual" sexual relations with his female accuser but didn’t penetrate her as she told police in her initial complaint.

He claimed after taking the stand they engaged in only kissing and fondling and denied taking the Irish student's clothes off, pushing her against a sofa and forcing himself on her. She is believed to have given her evidence via video link a few days later.

Officers were alerted on the day of the incident on June 17, 2022, and discovered 48 cannabis plants inside a room at his home after going to arrest the suspect.

He and the Irish student met up in a bar after chatting online.

Public prosecutors said in a pre-trial indictment which did not fully name the defendant he invited her for a drink at his home after a short motorbike ride and proceeded to kiss her and try to take her clothes off once they were there before she told him she didn’t want sex.

They said: “Despite that, the man insisted and forced himself on her.” 

The 48 cannabis plants were in a wardrobe said to have had ventilation and artificial light.

Judges ruled he was selling drugs grown at his home despite his insistence in court he was not a drug dealer.

As well as being ordered to do prison time, he has also been told to pay his victim €5,000 in compensation and given a two-year restraining order preventing him from going within 500 metres of her.

The fine he will have to pay for the drugs comes to just over €4,500.

He can appeal his sentence. He has not yet been formally named by the Spanish authorities despite being convicte and is unlikely to be so until any appeals process has been exhausted.

The two prison sentences he has received are two years less than the seven-and-a-half jail term public prosecutors said they were seeking on conviction when the trial started.