Madrid priest sentenced to eleven years in prison for sexual assault

The provincial court of Madrid has sentenced a priest (Wooby O. JO) to eleven years in prison for a continuous crime of sexual assault.

According to the ruling, on several occasions in 2022, the priest took advantage of a woman's situation of economic and social vulnerability in the Madrid district of Puente de Vallecas.

The ruling establishes that the defendant, parish priest of the church of San Pedro Regalado and San José de Calasanz since 2018, took advantage of his position in the parish to recruit immigrant women in need of financial assistance and accommodation.

According to the court ruling, the main victim, a Colombian woman who arrived in Spain in February 2022, went to the parish seeking help after becoming homeless. The priest offered her accommodation in a house next to his own and subsequently began making sexual advances towards her.

The court found it proven that Wooby O. JO had entered the home on several occasions, using his own keys, and sexually assaulted her, even threatening to shoot her if she told anyone what had happened.

According to the court, he took advantage of the woman's extreme vulnerability and her dependence on aid provided by a religious organisation.

The victim was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the court acquitted the priest of other charges brought by three more women, ruling that the reported incidents (comments, insinuation or inappropriate behaviour) did not constitute a crime.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a 12-year restraining order banning the priest from approaching or communicating with the victim, ten years of supervised release after serving his sentence and an 18-year ban on working with minors.

He must also pay the complainant 40,000 euros in compensation for moral damages.