The woman, 38, insists she has committed no crime after being arrested for allegedly touching an 18-year-old Swedish man's genitals without his consent last June
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An Irish holidaymaker has vowed to clear her name in court after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenager in a hotel sauna in Magaluf.
The woman, 38, insists she has committed no crime after being arrested for allegedly touching an 18-year-old Swedish man's genitals without his consent last June.
Prosecutors say the incident took place in a Turkish steam bath at the four-star hotel she was staying in with her husband in the popular Spanish holiday destination.
Neither side could reach a plea bargain agreement at a preliminary hearing in the Majorcan capital Palma, with a trial now pencilled in for this coming June.
The public prosecutor is seeking an 18-month sentence.
The woman, who has not been named by police, spent a night in a police cell last summer before being released on bail by an investigating magistrate.
This meant she was free to travel home, but public prosecutors charged her late last year and demanded a one-and-a-half-year jail term on conviction.
In a three-page indictment, prosecutors said the alleged assault took place around 6pm at the four-star Hotel Martinique in Magaluf on June 3.
The woman, who was 37 at the time, allegedly sat beside the teenager in the Turkish steam bath and “with a lustful spirit, took advantage of the fact that no one else was there".
She then allegedly "put her hands on his genitals… against his will" and "fondled them until he said: ‘No, no, no’ and left."
The Swedish tourist alerted hotel staff, who called the police after the alleged assault.
As well as the prison term, prosecutors want the Irish tourist banned from working with minors for two more years than the jail sentence imposed.
They also want her to pay her male accuser €500 in compensation.
During the trial, two police officers will be called to testify along with the alleged offender and the victim.
Joan Arbos, representing the Irish woman, confirmed: "The pre-trial hearing took place behind closed doors and no agreement was reached whereby a sentence could have ended up being read out there and then if my client had accepted wrongdoing and a plea bargain deal had been struck.
"She does not accept she committed a crime on the basis that what occurred was a simple misunderstanding."
Reports at the time said the Irish woman was with her husband when cops arrived and took her away.
Mr Arbos had originally asked for the case to be “discontinued" against his client on the basis that he “didn’t consider a crime had taken place".
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said after the Magaluf hotel incident: "The alleged sexual aggressor, who was in a sauna with a younger Swedish man, was accused of touching the victim’s private parts without consent.
"When officers arrived the victim was visibly upset. After carrying out inquiries, they proceeded to arrest the suspected offender, who was handed over to the courts."
Prison sentences of two years or less are normally suspended in Spain for first-time offenders.
