The judicial system in southeastern Gran Canaria is facing a case that is shaking the foundations of trust in the island's educational institutions. The Public Prosecutor's Office has formally submitted its preliminary conclusions against GANC, a teacher at a secondary school in Santa Lucía de Tirajana, requesting that the case proceed to trial before the Provincial Court. He is accused of repeated sexual abuse with penetration of a student who, at the time of the events, which occurred between November 2017 and March 2018, was only 15 years old. The Public Prosecutor's Office is requesting an eight-year prison sentence and supervised release for GANC, a teacher in Santa Lucía de Tirajana, for repeated sexual abuse of a minor with the mitigating circumstance of mental impairment.
The prosecution is seeking an eight-year prison sentence, in addition to a complex network of security and protection measures. Besides a ten-year ban from any profession involving contact with minors, the prosecutor is requesting an eight-year period of supervised release consisting of mandatory outpatient medical treatment. The case, which will be tried under the recent reform of Organic Law 10/2022, highlights the vulnerability of educational environments and the severity of the criminal response to a teacher's breach of duty of care.
The prosecution's account describes an intimate relationship that began in the school setting and escalated into sexual acts both at the teacher's private residence and on the island of Fuerteventura. According to the document, the accused acted with full knowledge of the victim's age and with the intent to violate his sexual integrity. The consequences for the young man have been devastating: a diagnosis of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder that has severely hampered his ability to adapt to his environment and caused profound damage to his socio-emotional and sexual development.
The prosecution's strategy, however, includes a fundamental technical aspect: the defendant's mental health. The prosecutor acknowledges the existence of a partial defense of diminished responsibility due to mental impairment, given that the professor suffers from severe major depressive disorder with psychotic features and schizoid personality disorder. According to the forensic medical report, these conditions moderately impaired his intellectual and volitional faculties during the period in which the crimes occurred.
