A BRITISH man has been charged with raping a female friend of his son at a Magaluf hotel and warned he faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.
The 43-year-old’s lawyers failed to strike a plea bargain deal with state prosecutors at a court in Majorca today.
The hearing in the island capital Palma ended with a trial date being set in February next year over the alleged sex attack in May.
The suspect, who has not been named by the police or court officials ahead of his trial, was held at Palma Airport after "packing his bags and trying to return to the UK hours afterwards."
The British woman, thought to be aged around 20, told detectives she was forced to have sex after spending the last night of her holiday in the same room as her friend and his dad because she was due to return to the UK hours later and had already checked out of her own room.
The older man was said to have surprised her in the middle of the night after "taking advantage" of the fact she had consumed a large amount of alcohol and was fast asleep on a sofa bed, despite her then waking up and begging him to stop.
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Reports at the time said the dad’s son was still out partying.
Police were alerted after she fled the unnamed hotel and raised the alarm at a Civil Guard office near to the Punta Ballena party strip in Magaluf in the early hours of May 9 this year.
Respected Majorcan daily Ultima Hora said officers took a statement from her before going to the hotel and finding the man they were looking for had already checked out.
He was arrested at his flight boarding gate, having allegedly brought his holiday to a premature end by rescheduling his return days before he was originally due to leave by buying a new ticket home.
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An investigating magistrate ordered his remand in jail after he was hauled to court for questioning during a closed session in which the alleged victim gave her version of events.
He is believed to have been held in prison since his arrest in May.
As well as a nine-year prison sentence if convicted as charged, state prosecutors also want the accused rapist hauled to court today to pay his alleged victim £8,700 in compensation should he be found guilty of the sex crime.
The party resorts of Magaluf and S’Arenal east of the island capital have been rocked this summer by several alleged sex attacks involving foreign tourists including gang rapes.
A British 18-year-old was allegedly gang-raped at a hotel in Magaluf in the early hours of August 14.
Five French nationals and a Swiss man were arrested and remanded in jail pending an ongoing judicial investigation and a further two suspects subsequently held in France on European Arrest Warrants.
Earlier this week it emerged badly-behaved British tourists face being banned from the Balearic Islands under controversial new proposals being studied by regional government chiefs.
The islands’ Head of Tourism Jaume Bauza confirmed on Monday holidaymakers who break strict rules brought in to crack down on anti-social visitors could be blacklisted.
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A drunken tourism decree was agreed at the start of 2020 for certain areas like Magaluf in Majorca and the West End of San Antonio in neighbouring Ibiza.
It included fines of up to £50,000 for holidaymakers caught leaping off their hotel balconies and limits on the amount of alcohol served with meals at all-inclusive hotels.
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