Kuwaiti Businessman Sentenced to 36 Years for Raping Moroccan Babysitter in Spain

The young Moroccan woman, a law student in her country, arrived in the province of Alicante in July 2019 and was hired as a babysitter for the two 7 and 5 year old children of a Kuwaiti businessman living in Calpe. She accuses the latter of raping her three times in just two months. On September 12, 2019, she had managed to flee the defendant’s home to report him to the authorities. Arrested the same day, he was sentenced two years ago to 36 years in prison for three counts of rape and one count of minor injury. A decision that was overturned last year by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the young woman did not retract her testimony, accusing the Kuwaiti businessman of raping her three times, threatening to kill her if she reported him, and taking advantage of her situation to sometimes refuse to pay her. Unlike the Moroccan woman who remained faithful to her statements, the defendant, for his part, changed his version. Having denied having had sexual relations with the babysitter of his children during the first hearing, he admitted on Tuesday to having had consensual sexual relations with the Moroccan woman who, according to him, would have fallen in love with him.

The defense of the accused, provided by his lawyer, the former prosecutor Ignacio Gordillo, presented to the court transcripts of alleged WhatsApp messages from the young woman in which she declared her love to him. Elements of proof rejected during the first hearing because they were not obtained in accordance with the rules. For her part, the young woman maintains that the defendant raped her three times, called her a "bitch" and a "son of a bitch", and offered her 10,000 euros to withdraw her complaint, which she refused. She also claims to have received threats from the defendant’s fiancée.

The young woman has been undergoing psychological treatment for three years. She says how difficult it is for her to go out and tell her parents about this misadventure. The Moroccan woman does not want compensation for the damage suffered. "What compensation? What I want is to get my life back," she said.