A Dinner with six couples near his house the night of Tots Sants It ended up being key to putting a face to the alleged sexual aggressor of a minor in Igualada. The Commander of Iberia Ramon Valles (Barcelona, 1966) and a resident of Igualada, saw how a group of young people wrecked his brother-in-law’s car. As a result of a reflex, he took out his cell phone and recorded the perpetrators of that act of vandalism, among whom the Mossos d’Esquadra They later identified Brian Cespedesthe detainee for raping a 16-year-old girl hours later.
What made you hit the record button?
-My brother-in-law had his vehicle parked a few meters from where we had dined. Leaving the restaurant, we saw how two boys, who were part of a group that included nine other young people, tried to destroy their vehicle. They went so far as to jump on top of the roof and sink it. Since I knew that this was a reason for a complaint, I tried to capture images of the young people to reinforce our arguments.
-How did you live the moments after?
-We called the Local Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra to report the events. We were clear that we could not persecute them, since we did not know if they were violent people. Once the police arrived, we explained everything that had happened and I gave them my images. Afterwards, we went back home. A few days later we were summoned to the Igualada court to make a statement. In my case, as a witness, when I contributed the video again.
-The police call him again in January.
-Yes, in this case the Central Unit for Sexual Assaults (UCAS) of the Criminal Investigation Division (DIQUE) did it. So we already knew that the same night my brother-in-law’s vehicle was vandalized, there had been a rape in the city. They asked me for the phone with which I had made the original recordings and images.
– So you began to suspect something?
-Yes. It is evident that the police unit dedicated to investigating sexual assaults would not have had anything of interest in my video if it had not been related to the rape in Igualada.
-He lives near the area. Is this your first time in a conflict situation?
– Of this magnitude, yes. From time to time young voices doing some vandalism, but I’ve never seen anyone cause damage like this.
-When you recorded the images, would you have imagined the impact they would have?
-No way. I was saddened to hear news like this. It has been a very violent sexual assault and the result could have been much worse on the face. As a father, I have tried to put myself in the situation of the family. I recorded the video for the act of vandalism, but if I had imagined what happened hours later, any of us who were present there would have tried to do everything possible to retain the alleged rapist.
-How do you feel knowing that your video has made it possible to identify the man?
-It’s a mixture of sensations. All this fuss has been generated by the violent act that took place, but I cannot change this. At the same time, I feel satisfied, since with a video I have helped to find the perpetrator of the violation.
-If you analyze it with perspective, he was a few meters from the detainee for sexual assault. What causes this?
-Rejection. Now that we know everything, when I watch the video again I think that among them there was a person who was capable of committing an extremely brutal rape. I think that we should also find out how the life of this young man has been. A monster is not created from one moment to the next, there are things behind it and they have to be analyzed. We have to prevent these situations from repeating themselves in other people’s hands.
-How does your environment live the uproar generated as a result of your recording?
-In general, the reactions of my environment are very varied. There is someone who asks me if I fear reprisals. But I’m not afraid. You have to keep in mind that I live a very normal life and I don’t expose myself to dangerous situations. I am clear that I did what I had to do.
-I would do it again?
-Evidently. She would re-record the images. I did not do it thinking that it could come later, since this does not correspond to me. I recorded and then the people who are dedicated to investigating did their job. It is not the first time that I record images to denounce what I consider to be injustices or what I do not like.
five key seconds
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Five seconds of a video have been key to identifying the author of the rape of a minor on the night of Tots Sants in Equalizer. The sequence shows how the group with whom he dined Ramon Valles approaches the young people, rebukes them, after seeing how they tried damage the vehicle from one of them a few meters away. It was half past one at night, before the rape.
In the images, the alleged perpetrator of the sexual assault on the 16-year-old girl, Brian Cespedeswalk a few meters behind the group and crestfallen. He tries to go unnoticed among the young people and wears his hood at all times. He puts it on moments before, when he detects that he is being recorded. He was wearing clothing and accessories that were the same as the rest of the images analyzed by the police during the investigation.