Eight men accused of ‘gang-r_ping’ an 18-year-old British woman in Magaluf were strangers who encouraged one another to take part in the sex attack, according to Spanish police.
It comes a day after two suspects being hunted by police over the alleged incident were arrested in France.
The sexual attack
Spanish authorities had issued a European Arrest Warrant for the pair after up to eight men were accused of attacking the girl at a party hotel on the island of Majorca last week.
The girl fled a hotel room after believing she had been attacked by up to eight men at around 5am last Monday, August 14, telling police she had woken up surrounded by young people holding mobile phones.
Officers later identified three men by ringing the girl’s phone, which it was claimed had been stolen during the ordeal, and luring them to a meeting.
A total of six suspects had been taken into custody prior to yesterday.
Official statements
Spanish authorities have now revealed that the eight men did not know each other prior to the ‘gang rape‘ during which they encouraged each other to commit.
The spokesman said: ‘The Civil Guard has closed the investigation sparked by the alleged gang rape that took place in a hotel in Magaluf in the early hours of August 14.
‘Officers saw early on the complexity of the investigation, as the alleged aggressors didn’t form part of the same group of friends but were encouraged by other participants, had allegedly joined the group action in sporadic acts, meaning no type of relationship existed between them,’ he said.
Several men have since been taken into custody by police, with police in France making the latest arrests after Spanish cops discovered the men had flown to Germany before crossing the border en route to the French city of Strasbourg.
The pair arrested yesterday now face extradition to Majorca, while Civil Guard officers announced yesterday that their probe to identify the men involved had now concluded.
Confirming the first six suspects had been held the day of the alleged sex attack and remanded in prison, the force said in a statement: ‘The probe continued to identify the two young men whose arrests were pending.
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‘Once they had been identified, officers discovered they had taken a flight to Baden-Baden in Germany so they could head to their homes in the Strasbourg area.
‘The Civil Guard sought the assistance of the French authorities through the normal channels and issued European Arrest Warrants to avoid them evading justice.
‘On Sunday the French police confirmed they arrested one of them in the French locality of Scherwiller before subsequently confirming a second arrest at Basilea Mulhouse Freiburg Airport in France, when that suspect was trying to take a flight to Turkey to avoid detention.’
First arrest
Earlier this week it was reported the first of the Magaluf gang-rape suspects was held after Spanish police got him to answer the ‘stolen’ mobile phone of the British teenager allegedly targeted.
Officers are said to have dialled the girl’s phone number and one of the alleged French attackers answered her device.
The man who answered and two of his friends were then duped into heading to the hotel’s reception without realising that they were going to meet the police and the girl.
The alleged victim pointed at the men – named Anthony G, 20, Anthony A, 20, and Khalil A, 18 – and they were quickly arrested.
Two other French men Thomas E, 23, and Romain C, 26, were reportedly arrested later at the hotel along with the Swiss man Lucas H who is aged 20.
The arrests were made after the victim described the men to police and ‘various surveillance devices’ were placed on the hotel entrances.
All six men were held on suspicion of rape and remanded in custody on Tuesday at a court hearing on the island capital Palma.
Over the weekend it emerged the judge who refused the six suspects bail and remanded them in prison pending an ongoing criminal probe had concluded the Brit teen had suffered ‘really humiliating and degrading treatment’ and described the men’s claims sex was consensual as ‘completely preposterous.’
Mobile phone footage of the alleged sex attack, seized by police on the suspects’ phones and handed over to the investigating judge, is said to have shown the men had been ‘enjoying themselves and laughing.’
On Sunday Ultima Hora published more details of the judge’s remand ruling it appeared to have been given full or partial access to, saying the suspects had allegedly ‘deliberately taken advantage’ of their alleged victim’s drunkenness to persuade her to accompany them to a hotel room before ‘surrounding her’ and ‘carrying out numerous sexual practices’ with her despite her ‘obvious lack of awareness and willing to carry out those practices.’
The criminal investigation has now been passed on to Palma’s Court of Instruction Number Two, having been dealt with by a duty court in its initial stages.
The British teenager, who gave a statement to police as well as the investigating judge in court, is said to have flown back to the UK with a female friend who was on holiday with her.
Medical reports revealed that the girl had several bruises or grip marks on her right arm, suggesting she had been held down, and a small cut on her upper chest.
Police have already confirmed they found footage on the suspects’ mobile phones showing the alleged multiple rape that is now in the hands of the investigating judge and could form a ‘key part’ of the case.
