Spanish police said on Wednesday that they had arrested five French tourists and a Swiss holidaymaker on suspicion of gang rape of an 18-year-old British woman on the holiday island of Mallorca.
The assault allegedly happened at dawn on Monday at a hotel in Magaluf, renowned for its rowdy parties and cheap alcohol as much as its white-sand beaches.
A judge has ordered the six suspects in their early twenties to be held in custody while the investigation continues, a spokesman for Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said. Spanish media has reported that the 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.
Under Spanish law, sexual assault takes in a wide array of crimes from online abuse and groping to rape, each with different penalties.
Spanish media said the hotel’s security staff called police after finding the British woman crying for help just outside the establishment.
She had reportedly agreed to go to the room of one of the suspects where she was then sexually assaulted by all six but managed to flee.
Police detained the suspects shortly after. The alleged victim had claimed that one of the accused filmed the incident on his mobile phone.
This is the second reported gang rape to take place on Mallorca this summer after another incident in Platja de Palma in late June involving German holidaymakers in their early twenties.
La juez envía a prisión a la 'manada' de franceses que violaron a una turista en Magaluf https://t.co/O5EiFoAdlZ
— Ultima Hora Mallorca (@UHmallorca) August 16, 2023
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