In Catalonia, complaints of sexual assaults have shot up by almost 20% in the first four months of 2023. However, the Mossos d'Esquadra police point out that the most common types of assaults do not equate with those that have made headlines recently: for one, sexual attacks involving chemical subjugation, in which the victim is drugged, are almost non-existent. Likewise, group sexual assaults, which have created outrage - as in the so-called "wolf pack" cases - are only a small fraction of the total sexual attacks.
In the context of rising numbers of sexual attacks, highly concerning to the Mossos, the police force's investigators affirm that the majority of these assaults are carried out by perpetrators who are known to the victim and in places that the victim considered to be safe environments. This was one of the insights which was explained on Tuesday by the head of the criminal investigation for the Mossos, Ramon Chacón, and the spokesperson for the area of proximity and citizen security, inspector Montserrat Escudé, who explained that 31% of complaints related to sexual assault by a partner or family member.
This 2023 start is particularly worrying. Specifically, between January and April of this year, a total of 1,247 cases of sexual violence were reported - 19% more than in the same period of the previous year. Of these, 485 are sexual assaults with penetration, with or without violence. Of the 1,487 victims, a total of 567, or 38%, are on minors - 238 aged 12 or under, and 329 between the ages of 13 and 17. Around 1,000 perpetrators have been arrested or investigated, of whom 12.3% are minors.
The criminal investigative head affirmed that although neither the police nor nightlife venues must lower their guard, sexual assaults in the area of nocturnal entertainment account for 14% of cases and that the majority take place in circumstances in which the victim already knows the aggressor. Of these more than 1,200 sexual assaults reported in these first months of 2023, thirteen are due to chemical subjugation, the majority in people's homes. Breaking down those thirteen cases, six involved partners or ex-partners and two related to dating using mobile applications; one of a heterosexual nature and one of a homosexual nature. None of these are related to needle-spikings, a psychosis that struck last year and ended with more than 150 complaints - although none involved a subsequent sexual assault - and no arrests.
Dismantling the myths: neither wolf packs nor drugging
Using the data, Chacón and Escudé sought to dismantle the myths of sexual assaults with chemical subjugation of the victim and also that of gang rapes through the so-called "wolf packs" of some high-profile cases in Spain. The police leaders state that sexual assaults with more than one perpetrator account for just 4% of cases (58 complaints, with a total of 79 participants) and that it is not correct to talk about "wolf packs". "This should not be understood as a group of men who go out at night to hunt for victims in order to rape them together", they said . Some of these group attacks are preceded by robberies, such as a case in the Barcelona Metro, where a group of young people stole a girl's mobile phone and then sexually molested her. During this first quarter of the year, the Mossos have investigated six cases of group sexual assaults committed by minors, two in school environments - including one with a six-year-old victim and three nine-year-old perpetrators - two more in leisure areas and two more, in familiar environments.
In addition, between January and April, 31 sexual assaults committed by "predators" were reported, fifteen of which were cases where victims were molested by so-called portalers, who look for victims in building portals, although the Mossos know of only one serial aggressor, who is already in prison, for sexual molestation and exhibitionism in the Les Corts neighbourhood of Barcelona.
"We will catch you"
The Mossos d'Esquadra made a call to report all cases. Although in these first months of 2023, around 1,000 people have been arrested for the 1,200 complaints that have been submitted, the police ensure that more than 75% of reported sexual assaults are resolved. The police hope to be able to reduce the number of assaults that go unreported, and they sent a message to the aggressors who have not yet been arrested: "We will catch you".