A poster against bullying, in a demonstration after the suicide of a minor in Sallent and the frustrated attempt by his sister. Siu Wu (EFE)
Four 14-year-old minors and one 17-year-old were arrested on February 7 accused of sexually assaulting a classmate at an institute in Rubí (Barcelona).
The mother of the adolescent —of the same age as the alleged perpetrators— reported to the Mossos d'Esquadra that a group of boys threw her daughter to the ground, harassed her and beat her when she tried to escape from her.
It happened inside a classroom and with a teacher present, according to the complaint.
Police consider it to be an alleged sexual assault.
The Department of Education has declined to comment until it has more details of what happened.
The alleged attack took place on February 2 during school hours and inside the classrooms.
The parents of the minor said that in a class change between two groups of 3rd ESO who were going to share a subject at that time, a group of five minors took advantage of them to attack her.
They surrounded her, threw her on the ground and brought her genital area closer to her face to dramatize fellatio.
When the minor tried to get up from her and get away from her group, one of them allegedly hit her to throw her back to the ground.
At that time, according to various witnesses, the teacher was in the classroom, and allegedly did not notice what was happening.
Those same witnesses assured that it was not the first time that the young people, set up as a kind of group that instilled fear in other students, acted in the same way.
Other adolescents recounted that they too had been surrounded and thrown to the ground.
So far, there is no evidence that the minor complainant was the victim of repeated harassment against her.
The Mossos d'Esquadra arrested the five minors after the young woman's mother reported what had happened and after taking various statements and also meeting the parents of those involved, who were informed of the measure that was going to be taken.
The minors were arrested on February 7, and were handed over to the Minors' Prosecutor's Office the same day, which released them pending the judicial review of the complaint.
Four of the five involved in the Rubí case are of the age limit for criminal responsibility for their acts.
Those under 14 years of age are not liable.
The Juvenile Prosecutor's Office usually investigates the entire group in this type of case, not only the people who directly carry out the violence, because they consider that those who only attend the attack without doing anything to prevent it are also a necessary part of it. The agression.
In the case of non-imputable minors, the Generalitat's General Directorate for Child and Adolescent Care (DGAiA) is usually informed so that it can take the necessary administrative measures.
The suicide of a minor in Sallent and the frustrated attempt by his twin sister has set off all the alarms about bullying situations in schools.
Both suffered bullying, according to several witnesses and relatives, which worsened when one of them reported that he wanted to be treated like a boy.
The Generalitat has been forced to back down, and has gone from denying any type of
bullying
at the Sallent institute to studying what happened and apologizing for "a failure of the entire system."
The Generalitat warns of the constant increase in suicide attempts among minors, which have multiplied since 2019 (from 139 to 439 among minors between 5 and 14 years of age and from 941 to 1,810 among young people between 15 and 24 years of age).
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