Another reason to emigrate to Spain
by Laura Woodhouse // 14 May 2008, 18:24
I'm doing some research for my Spanish oral exam tomorrow, and was pleasantly astounded to come across the headline 'Man condemned to 27 years imprisonment for locking his wife and children in apartment for two days'. The man locked them in their home while he went to work, taking away the woman's mobile so she couldn't contact anyone. Luckily, some family friends came to the flat, she was able to tell them what happened and they persuaded the man to come home and release her and their three children.
When he did so, he threatened to kill her, she locked herself in a room and he proceeded to dangle one of their children over the balcony by his ankles, saying he'd drop him if she didn't come out. The police arrived in time to arrest him, and he has been sentenced to five years for each of the four cases of illegal detention, two years for each of the three cases of threatening behaviour and another year for mistreatment: 27 years in all. He is also banned from coming within 1km of his family for the next 40 years.
Can you imagine anything even near that kind of length of sentence being meted out in this country, if he was found guilty of anything at all?!
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Redheadinred // Posted 14 May 2008 at 18:56
Wow, I'm so going to live there! I've just got to go there at some point... wow.
Shabnam // Posted 14 May 2008 at 21:05
Whereas josef Fritzl of Austria is going to get a MAXIMUM of 15 years for locking!
Shabnam // Posted 14 May 2008 at 21:07
Oops - please correct my last post. I wanted to say:
Wheres Josef Fritzl of Austria only get 15 years for locking up his daughter and raping her for 24!
Jess McCabe // Posted 14 May 2008 at 21:52
Although I have to question why the friends decided that calling the man back to let her out was a good idea (rather than calling, say, the police!)
Anyway, yes, what's Barcelona's mayor like?
Seph // Posted 14 May 2008 at 23:54
Go Spain!
Why do I get the feeling that if this happened in England the wife would somehow get the blame for this.
Sian // Posted 15 May 2008 at 12:38
That's ace! Would definitely get nowhere near this here.
B. Valle // Posted 15 May 2008 at 12:59
Hi All
I am actually from Spain. Something interesting that's happened there is 50% of magistrates/judges (no jury there...) are women and after a decade statistics were compiled, saying they give men much longer sentences for sex offences than male magistrates/judges (can't distinguish between the two, sorry).
JENNIFER DREW // Posted 15 May 2008 at 18:34
This would never happen in the UK instead there would be intense media analysis as to why the woman supposedly provoked the man to imprison her. Because as we know, women are always to blame for men's violence committed against them.
Helen // Posted 26 November 2008 at 19:18
This surprises me- I thought Spain was very anti-woman