Government Overreach? Man gets 1 year for hitting wife during livestream despite her refusal to complain
SORIA, SPAIN: A man who slapped his partner during a live video broadcast on TikTok was charged with domestic violence and sentenced to a year’s prison time. Interestingly, the man was sentenced to prison even though his wife, the very woman he hit, pleaded for him to be spared. The man was charged with assaulting his partner "in front of thousands of people,” who had been audiences on the livestream. He is now detained in a jail in the Spanish city of Soria.
The man had slapped his partner while she was on a livestream with three other men, all of them influencers. The woman had initially claimed that it was her father who had hit her, but had later admitted that it was her partner who had slapped her. She had gone so far as to justify his actions, saying he had hit her because of her statements on the livestream, which had ‘annoyed’ him. Apparently, the partner had thought that the woman had been flirting with the other men on the broadcast and had slapped her, making her cry.
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'The victim's consent is irrelevant'
The woman had refused to file a complaint even though many of her fans and livestream audience had been enraged about the incident. Her lack of effort in filing a complaint had caused outrage and concern amongst the authorities - however, someone else had filed a complaint on her behalf. This led to the man being arrested on January 31; he has been in jail ever since, according to Yahoo!News.
The judge added that the legal case had taken place because "in cases of gender violence, the victim's complaint is not necessary, and the perpetrator can be convicted once the crime is known." She then continued, "The mere fact of broadcasting the slap live is enough for the public authorities to deploy their protection measures for the victim, regardless of whether she recognises herself as such… In cases of violence against women, as in all cases of serious assault, the victim's consent is irrelevant, and punishment is always appropriate."
Banned from communicating with the woman
The judge said the man "in a public and notorious way, in front of thousands of people, assaulted his partner with the intention of damaging her physical integrity and humiliating her in public, without causing any injuries but with evident and real violence, thus fulfilling all the requirements provided in Article 153.1 of the Criminal Code, and the accused is guilty of an offence of domestic violence."
The prison sentence also includes a three-year ban on going to the woman’s home, her workplace or anywhere within 300 meters of her. It also bans any attempt at communication with her through any means and the man will also be banned from carrying any weapons for three years.