Tattoo artist alleged to have 'sexually assaulted' Scots client in Ibiza to appear in court
The alleged victim was left unable to react out of “fear and anguish” according to Spanish public prosecutors and only alerted police in Scotland when she returned home.
A tattoo artist who allegedly sexually abused a Scots holidaymaker after she asked him to ink a butterfly on her left hip, is set to appear in court.
The 50-year-old “took advantage” of her to carry out an assault said to have lasted 25 minutes. The alleged victim was left unable to react out of “fear and anguish” according to Spanish public prosecutors and only alerted police in Scotland when she returned home.
A court in Majorca will try the man charged over the late-night June 15, 2022, incident at an Ibiza tattoo parlour at a court in the Majorcan capital Palma on Tuesday.
The alleged sex offender has not been named ahead of his trial where three professional judges rather than a jury will decide his fate.
Public prosecutors say they want him jailed for six years if he is convicted of sexually abusing the Scots tourist, 21 at the time, and ordered to pay her €15,000 (£13,200).
They also want him barred from working as a tattoo artist for eight years and are seeking a 10-year restraint order preventing him from going within 200 metres of his victim if he is found guilty.
It is not yet clear if his female accuser will give evidence via video link or will fly to Majorca to testify in person.
The body artist about to be put on trial was arrested on August 11 2022 and remanded in prison shortly afterwards by an investigating magistrate who subsequently decided to charge him.
The alleged sex assault occurred at a tattoo parlour in San Jose, a municipality in the south-west of Ibiza which includes areas like the party resort of Playa d’en Bossa as well as peaceful fishing villages.
Cops released photos of uniformed officers putting him into a police car after his arrest
A spokesman for the Civil Guard, the force that made the arrest, said at the time: “The Civil Guard through its Unit of Investigation of Sex Crimes in Ibiza, has arrested a man aged 47 on suspicion of a crime of sexual assault.
“The arrest took place on August 11 2022.
“The victim, a British woman who was on holiday in Ibiza, reported the incident to police in Scotland where she lives normally who passed her information on to the Civil Guard.
“Investigators discovered the arrested man had previous for incidents of a similar nature and allegedly committed the sexual crimes in a tattoo parlour in San Jose, where the alleged victims hired his services.
“He allegedly molested the women by touching them without their permission while he was doing their tattoo.
“Ibiza Court of Instruction Number One has remanded him in prison.”
A police source said: “She alerted police in Scotland when she returned home and they passed the information on to police in Spain to investigate.”
Although the tattoo parlour is in the municipality of San Jose, which locals speaking in Catalan call Sant Josep de Sa Talaia, it is in a beach area very near to the party resort of San Antonio which is popular with young British tourists.