Gender violence

Supreme Court establishes indicative criteria to evaluate the victim's statement

The Supreme Court in order to objectify and determine the legitimacy of the declaration by victims of gender violence, established a series of guiding criteria to be taken into all courts in cases where they are investigating domestic abuse crimes. These criteria come from ruling 119/2019, of March 6, where the Provincial Court of Palma de Mallorca had convicted a man for habitual abuse against his wife.

According to the proven facts, from the beginning of 2011 to April 2015, at the couple's home and on multiple occasions, the convicted man insulted his wife after consuming alcohol, using threats such as: "I will kill and after I will commit suicide.” The Provincial Court of Palma considered him criminally responsible for crimes against moral integrity, with the concurrence of the analogous mitigating factor of drunkenness, sentencing him to 15 months and one day in prison.

The defense of the convicted person proposed to reduce the severity of the acts from habitual abuse to a fault, due to the repeated consumption of alcohol, but the Supreme Court rejected the reason, pointing out that: “In the context of the couple relationship, an attenuation of the penalty cannot occur due to alcohol consumption, the perpetrator of abuse cannot try to use an attenuated subtype, or reducing it to the consideration of a misdemeanor.

The Supreme Court highlights that the victim “clearly details the facts, distinguishes the situations, the motives, and, what is clearest, shows a lack of intention to harm the accused. Discriminating between the events that usually happened, those that did not, and those in which the accused was very drunk from others that were from the normal and daily relationships", also specifying the factors to be assessed in the victim's testimony, so that this can be considered direct admitted evidence.

Gender Violence victim statement

The victim's statement is usually the main and sometimes even the only evidence against the aggressor. Therefore, victim's statement is usually essential to condemn the aggressor or not. The guiding criteria issued by the Supreme Court to evaluate the victim's statement regarding gender violence, are the following:

  • The victim’s persuasion in their statement before the Court.
  • The specificity in the story of the events happened in the case.
  • Clarity when the victim describe the facts before the Court.
  • The use of a “Gesture Language” of conviction or the way in which the victim expresses herself from the point of view of the “gestures” which she accompanies her statement before the Court.
  • Seriousness presenting the facts, which can distance the Court's belief from an unbelievable story
  • Descriptive expressiveness in the story of the events happened.
  • The absence of contradictions and the manifest concordance of events description.
  • The issuance of a solid and cohesive statement, which should not be fragmented.
  • A full description of the facts without being able to hide what benefit from what happened.
  • A story that contains both what benefits the victim of gender violence, and what could harm them.

Whether you are facing criminal proceedings for gender violence, or if you are a victim of abuse or domestic violence, contact us and our criminal lawyers in Marbella will help you.

info@mercuryabogados.com

Telephone: +34 951 052 811

Whatsapp: +34 643 89 04 96

Source: Judicial Documentation Center CENDOJ

The Ministry of Equality provides a telephone information service, legal advice and immediate psychosocial attention to all forms of violence against women, through the telephone number 016, by WhatsApp at the number 600 000 016, or by chat through their website, or email: 016-online@igualdad.gob.es