An Algerian migrant who arrived illegally by boat on the Spanish island of Mallorca was arrested just two days later for allegedly sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl.
The alleged sex attack took place last Thursday in the city of Palma in the Parc de Ses Estacions, a local park near the centre of the city at around 4:30 pm and saw the 21-year-old Algerian approach the Spanish teen who was sitting on a park bench.
According to the victim, the Algerian approached her without speaking and proceeded to touch her back then hugged and kissed her, touching her breasts and genitals, and attempted to force her to kiss him on the mouth.
Reportedly in shock, the girl called for help and the Algerian fled the scene. The friends of the victim called the local police who searched the nearby Intermodal railway station and found the alleged sex attacker hiding in one of the bathrooms of the station.
Police later discovered that the Algerian had been in Mallorca in January of this year and had been arrested for entering Spain illegally. After being released the individual had been arrested for violent robberies, squatting, and other crimes. The migrant had then left to return to Algeria but had entered Mallorca illegally again last Tuesday, two days before the alleged sex attack.
The attack comes just a month after a chief inspector in the Spanish region of Valencia was relieved of his duty for making statements that claimed nearly all of the street crime in his community involved illegal immigrants.
Chief Inspector of the Central Police Station in Valencia, Ricardo Ferris, spoke out on the trend saying of boat migrants, “In the boats, everyone confesses to being criminals and ex-prisoners.”
Populist Spanish political party VOX has also highlighted the levels of crime linked to illegal immigration and has called for a national referendum on the topic.
Jorge Buxadé, a vice president of VOX and a member of the European Parliament (MEP), spoke earlier this month at a meeting in the North African exclave of Ceuta saying, “Spaniards [must] say what is the model of immigration control we want.”
“This illegal immigration then turns into violence, insecurity and crimes in the streets of Stockholm, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona or Ceuta and in recent days we have stabbings of young people in Tarragona and Seville, massive brawls in the Gran Vía of Valencia, in Lavapiés … All of Spain is already devoured by insecurity and violence,” he added.