Tenerife Taxi Driver Sentenced to Six Years for Sexual Assault of Tourist

A court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has sentenced a 36-year-old taxi driver from Adeje to six years in prison for the sexual assault of a 22-year-old German tourist in September 2022.

The defense had requested a full acquittal, but the court ruled in favor of a conviction. While the sentence is shorter than the ten years originally sought by prosecutors, it includes significant additional measures: the defendant must pay 20,000 euros in compensation, serve five years of supervised release after his prison term, and is prohibited from contacting or approaching the victim for ten years. The defendant has a previous record for gender-based violence.

During the trial, the court addressed inconsistencies in the victim’s account of the events. The judges concluded that these discrepancies were consistent with the trauma and memory loss often caused by such an assault, noting that psychological impact can affect the precision of a memory without undermining the truthfulness of a victim's testimony.

The victim’s family testified that the assault has severely impacted her life, forcing her to abandon her personal and professional plans in Germany and requiring ongoing psychiatric care. The defendant denied the charges, claiming that the biological evidence found in his taxi was the result of an accidental transfer, an explanation the court rejected as insufficient.

This case highlights the importance of passenger safety in transport services. By convicting the driver for the assault, which took place in an open field after he picked the victim up in the Las Verónicas nightlife area, the court has reinforced the need to protect individuals in vulnerable situations.