Spain: priest sentenced to ten years for abusing two altar servers in the sacristy, the court finding he held 'logical ascendancy' over them

Proceedings

1. Date in cited record · conviction and sentence

   Audiencia Provincial de Madrid, Spain. The Provincial Court of Madrid sentenced a priest of the Santiago Apóstol parish in Torrejón de Ardoz to ten years' imprisonment on two counts of continuous sexual abuse of two altar servers, who were twelve and fourteen when the abuse ended in 2019. The court also imposed a restraining order, supervised release, a twenty-year prohibition on any work involving minors, and €2,000 in compensation to each victim. The judges found that he 'se prevalió' — took advantage — of the ministry he exercised and of the relationship he had with the altar servers, holding that he 'possessed logical ascendancy over the then-minors', and that he used being alone with them in the sacristy of the parish to abuse them weekly. Further abuse occurred during a parish trip to the Holy Land. The prosecution had sought twelve years; the priest denied the allegations, saying the boys had misinterpreted his affection.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• the 'logical ascendancy' the court found he held over the altar servers by reason of his ministry
• weekly access to the boys alone in the sacristy
• a parish pilgrimage to the Holy Land on which further abuse occurred