A man denies raping a minor under the pretext of helping her with her homework: "I haven't forced her even once."

PalmA man denied in court on Thursday that he raped a minor he contacted through social media to help her with her homework. He claimed he was in a romantic relationship with the 13-year-old at the time of the alleged incident, and that their sexual relations were always consensual. He appeared at the trial held Thursday in the Second Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands, where he attributed the accusation to the influence of the girl's mother, who was unaware of the relationship. "There was not a single time I forced her," he asserted. The victim, for her part, denied having a romantic relationship with the alleged perpetrator, stating that it was only a friendship. The young woman, who recently turned 18, explained that on the day of the incident, she went to the man's home for help with her homework and that the sexual assault occurred shortly afterward. "We were on the sofa and he jumped on top of me. I froze," she said. The prosecution is requesting a seven-year prison sentence and €4,000 in compensation as the alleged perpetrator of a sexual abuse crime. According to the prosecutor's indictment, the events date back to August 2021, when the accused contacted the victim, who was 13 years old at the time, through a well-known social network. Despite knowing her age, the man maintained contact with her. In May 2022, he offered to help her with her English homework and invited her to his home in Palma. There, after they finished their schoolwork, he began to subject the minor to inappropriate touching and then raped her. The victim, deeply traumatized, told her mother what had happened a month later, and they reported the incident to the National Police.