Five cleared of raping unconscious girl aged 14

SPANIARDS have voiced outrage after five men were acquitted of rape on the grounds that their 14-year-old victim had been unconscious at the time.

The Barcelona court ruled that the men were guilty of the lesser crime of sexual abuse and sentenced them to 10-12 years and fined them e12,000 (£10,300).

It ruled that their act could not be considered sexual assault since the girl was unconscious after consuming alcohol and drugs and so they did not need to use violence or intimidation, a requirement for a rape conviction in Spain.

Spain’s deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, said the government planned to change the law to make clear that consent is necessary for sexual relations to occur legally.

The attack happened in the town of Manresa, near Barcelona, in 2016 when the girl and the men went into an abandoned factory to drink.

Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and other left-wing politicians and feminist groups condemned the ruling.

“Another senseless verdict by the patriarchal Justice that doesn’t want to understand that only a Yes means Yes,” Ms Colau wrote on Twitter.

“An unconscious 14-year-old girl was gang raped. I am not a judge and I don’t know how many years of prison they deserve, [but] what I do know is that this is not abuse, it is rape!”

Marisa Soleto, of the feminist group Fundacion Mujeres, said: “This is just one more piece of proof for the necessity to change the penal code.”

A similar 2017 ruling sparked widespread protests when five men were found guilty of sexually abusing a woman but acquitted of rape for an attack in Pamplona.

Spain’s Supreme Court later overruled the lower court and convicted them of rape.