Spanish policemen escort six German tourists arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a German young woman to the courts of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on July 15. Since then police have investigated two other alleged gang-rape cases involving young tourists on the island. File Photo by Miquel A. Borras/EPA-EFE
Aug. 26 (UPI) — Three Britons arrested in connection with the third recent case of alleged gang rape involving young tourists on the Spanish island of Mallorca made their initial court appearances on Saturday.
Photos showed the three British men covering their faces as they went before a court in Palma, Spain, to face charges in connection with an alleged gang rape of a British woman who says she was drugged at a hotel in the town of Magaluf on Friday.
The three men tried to leave the country but were apprehended at Palma Son Sant Joan Airport as they were about to board a flight to Manchester in Britain.
A doctor who examined the alleged victim said she had signs of sexual violence.
“This morning a central response unit received an alert about a possible sexual aggression from a hotel in the municipality,” a spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard told the Manchester Evening News.
Initial evidence suggested the woman had been drugged, he said, adding the victim told police “she felt completely unwell possibly because of the consumption of some type of drug. She said she didn’t know the identity of the alleged aggressors, just the nickname of one of them used on a social network.”
Police were nonetheless able to identify the men.
“Officers identified the alleged aggressors who had just abandoned the hotel with the intention of taking a flight back to their home country,” the spokesman added.
Earlier this month, six people, including five French nationals and one Swiss national, were arrested on suspicion of having gang raped another British woman at the same hotel where this week’s attack took place.
And in July, six German men were arrested for the alleged rape of an 18-year-old German woman at a Mallorca hotel.
Authorities said it is likely the three Britons arrested on Friday will be held in the same facility as the Swiss and French nationals detained in connection with the prior attack.