A woman who endured sexual abuse by her older cousin in Marbella between the ages of five and ten waited 15 years before reporting him, ... driven by fears that other girls could suffer the same ordeal. Spain's Supreme Court has now upheld his 13-and-a-half-year prison sentence, bringing her long legal battle to an end.
Lucía kept the sexual abuse a secret. Over time, that silence became, in her words, "an increasingly heavy burden". As she told Sur, she also struggled with guilt, the fear that nobody would believe her and the prospect of tearing her family apart.
Seeing other girls of the same age she had been when the abuse began being left in her cousin's care, however, changed everything. "I couldn't keep quiet any longer."
Lucía waited 15 years after the abuse stopped before reporting her cousin, by which time she was in her 20s. That decision marked the beginning of what seemed an endless legal battle, but the process has finally come to an end.
Her cousin was 20 when he began sexually abusing her and she was just five. According to the final court ruling, the abuse involved repeated violence and threats and continued until she turned ten. The ruling can no longer be appealed.
"Back then, speaking out was unthinkable because he terrified me. Once, he took me out through a window and told me that if I said anything, he would throw me into the void," she said.
Even after the abuse stopped, Lucía did not fully understand the seriousness of what had happened. "Something stayed with me, but I was able to carry on with my life. For a while, it was as though nothing had happened," she stated.
She said she would often see her abuser at family gatherings and "act as though everything was completely normal". Once she was old enough to understand what he had done, something inside her broke. Lucía remembers being around 17 when the distress she had suppressed began to surface, as though it had been simmering inside her "over a very low heat".
Anxiety and inner conflict followed. "I felt that something was wrong and got angry with myself, but I thought nobody had witnessed it. How would anyone believe me?" Looking back, she recognises that these thoughts helped her avoid confronting a process for which she was not yet ready.
"When I became an adult, I had more tools to deal with it and realised I didn't want to keep pretending. Sitting at the same table as your abuser at Christmas was no longer possible," Lucía said.
She then sought professional help as her distress intensified. "I was terrified that what had happened to me would drive me mad. Even after I started treatment, it took me another year or two before I could go into detail with my psychologist about what had happened."
Protecting other girls
Her own suffering was not the only reason Lucía finally broke 15 years of silence. She also felt an urgent need to protect other children. She became deeply concerned when she saw other girls being left in her cousin's care.
"I worried about what might happen to them. I thought that if someone had been able to help me when I was little, I would have wanted them to do so," she said.
Two people played a crucial role in helping her come forward. One was another cousin, the abuser's brother, who believed her from the outset, even though doing so meant confronting parts of the family. The other was Candela Gómez, her lawyer and friend, who supported her before she formally brought the case. "Without her, it wouldn't have been possible."
Despite her determination, Lucía waited until she felt the time was right, hoping to limit the damage to her family. "I didn't want to drop that bombshell on everyone." She finally decided to act in late 2021, when she felt there was no reason left to keep holding back. Before going to the police, however, she needed to find a sense of personal certainty.
In a desperate phone call, she confronted her cousin and demanded an apology. She recorded the conversation. "Making that call was incredibly difficult, but I needed it as a kind of moral safety net, to reassure myself that I wasn't the one who was going mad," Lucía said.
During the conversation, her cousin eventually apologised and implicitly acknowledged what he had done.
Lucía went to the police station with her lawyer, carrying the recording. Although the court later ruled the audio inadmissible as evidence, the recording gave her the emotional push she needed to take action. She also made the complaint in the company of her abuser's brother, who became a key witness in the case.
That night marked the start of an open rift with parts of her family and an exhausting legal battle. "People question you, blame you for destroying the family and expose you to vile comments, such as the claim that you had provoked a 21-year-old when you were six," she explained.
The emotional toll grew as she endured the long waits built into the legal system. "I understand the presumption of innocence, but when almost two years pass between one appeal and the next, victims are left badly exposed."
Five years after deciding to take a stand, Lucía can now look back on the ordeal knowing that the Supreme Court's final ruling has upheld her cousin's sentence and that he is in prison.
"I kept asking myself how anyone would believe me if nobody had seen what happened. But professionals have tools to establish whether someone's account is consistent. You have to prepare yourself for a road full of obstacles, but in the end it is worth it. Today, I have a happy life thanks to this process."