Spanish Man Faces Prison for Alleged Racist Act Against Moroccan Child in Valencia

The accused denied the facts during the trial that was held on Wednesday. "There was no incident," he told the prosecutor. In his indictment, the prosecution argues that on November 30, 2020, the accused passed by the school in the neighborhood with his dog, where the 10-year-old girl was waiting for her temperature to be taken, as a preventive measure against Covid-19. "With a vexatious, racist spirit and with the intention of undermining her dignity," the man would have let his dog urinate in the girl’s backpack, also with the aim of frightening her, explains the prosecution.

According to the indictment, the man had previously made racist remarks like "Damn Moor, go back to your country" towards the girl’s family. Facts denied by the accused, a retired soldier, claiming that it is a story invented by the president of a retirees’ association who would be in collusion with the Moroccan-origin family. The accused also denied any form of "animosity" towards "people from another country", stressing that he had been a "volunteer teacher" for an NGO and had kept students of various nationalities.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the 13-year-old minor supported that the man is in the habit of having racist behavior towards her family members. "He spat on my mother and sister and he also looks at us askance," she said. Her mother confirmed the facts, adding that the accused had already made racist insults towards the family, asking them to go back to "their country".

The prosecutor in charge of hate crimes, Susana Gisbert, stated that "the young girl perfectly describes how the events unfolde