Sanfermines gang rape suspects sent messages to friends boasting of attack
A Civil Guard graduate is among five arrested in July at Pamplona fiestas
One of the five men arrested for the gang rape of a 19-year-old woman during the Sanfermines fiestas in Pamplona on July 7 sent several text messages to friends in the hours after the sexual assault. Local online publication Navarra.com published some of the messages on Wednesday, sent out to a WhatsApp group known as “the pack” that included four of the five men arrested, along with seven others not present at the week-long festival in the northeastern city famous for it daily bull run.
This and other messages were sent in the hours after the rape:
“Good day.”
“Fucking one between the five of us.”
“Hahaha.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Fucking incredible trip.”
“There’s a video.”
The police subsequently intercepted several text messages sent via WhatsApp within the group
The five men were arrested in Pamplona’s bullring at around 8am, a few hours after the rape, where they were mingling with crowds and tame calves following the traditional bull run that takes place each morning. They had previously been spotted by a police officer monitoring security cameras after the victim had reported the sexual assault to the authorities. Police searched one of the men, who had a tattoo on his leg reading “The power of the wolf lies in the pack,” which the young woman had noticed and reported to police.
The investigating magistrate’s summary notes that there are “accredited indications” that around 3am on July 7, the five accused, who have been named only as J. A. P. M., J. E. D., A. J. C. E., A. M. G. E. and A. B. F., all from Seville, met the victim in Pamplona’s Plaza del Castillo and accompanied her to the car where she was sleeping. Along the way, they grabbed her “by the wrists” and forced her into a doorway. They then surrounded her, and “taking advantage of their physical superiority” and the “impossibility” of the victim to call for help, sexually assaulted her “while filming the events.”
“They encouraged each other,” reads the court summary. They then stole her phone and belt pack. Among the five was a recent graduate of the Civil Guard, who has since been suspended from duty. The judge intends to take statements from the five in September. They all claim that the young woman consented to sexual relations with them.
The five allegedly held the woman on the ground, forcing her, according to her statement, to perform oral sex several times, as well as repeatedly penetrating her. The police subsequently intercepted several text messages sent via WhatsApp within the group, one of which read: “You lucky bastards, I envy you. Those are the really great trips.”
English version by Nick Lyne.
