5 French tourists and 1 Swiss arrested for the gang rape of a young British woman in Spain

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Spanish Civil Guard police said Wednesday they have arrested five French tourists and one Swiss tourist for allegedly raping an 18-year-old British woman on the island of Mallorca.

The rape allegedly happened early Monday in Magaluf, a tourist spot in the town of Calvia, a very popular party destination for young tourists.

A judge in Palma, the main city in Mallorca, found there were video clips of the alleged rape on at least one of the suspects' phones, police said.

The police press office in Mallorca cited the alleged victim's statement as saying she met the suspected rapists Monday night and later went to one of the hotel room of one of the suspects, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by the six.

Civil Guard showed up at the hotel after receiving a phone call from the hotel's security staff who found the young woman crying in desperation. Police detained the suspects shortly after.

All of them are over 20 years of age.

The alleged victim received immediate medical attention and counselling. The Civil Guard took the detainees before a judge in a court in Palma de Mallorca on Tuesday.

Although the suspects are being held in jail, none of them has been formally charged as yet, as the investigation is ongoing. There were no details released on their identities nor that of the alleged victim.

This is the second incident of an alleged gang rape by young tourists in Mallorca in recent weeks. In mid-July, police arrested six young German men for the alleged rape of an 18-year-old German woman in a hotel on the island.

Gang rape is considered an aggravating factor that can carry sentences of up to 15 years of prison in Spain. Several cases of gang rape in recent years have shocked the country.