The Provincial Court of Huesca has sentenced a corporal of the Civil Guard to 53 years in prison for sexual abuse of minors when he taught extracurricular classes in two public schools in the Huesca town of Barbastro.

The Court has convicted him of nine crimes of abuse and another two for abuse with prevalence of children aged between six and 10 years.

It considers it proven that the defendant, Serafin EC, 50, committed continuous sexual abuse of nine children, for which he establishes a sentence of five years and one day for each minor.

In addition, he condemns him for a crime of sexual abuse with precedence, since he asserted his superiority as a teacher over two others, sentenced to four years for each child.

The court considers that there was no crime in the case of other minors up to 16, despite the fact that all those who participated in the extracurricular activity in two different courses, in 2018 and 2019, agreed in their story.

The now convicted was arrested in 2019, stopped from his job and removed the regulatory weapon and entered prison where he remained seven months until he was released after paying a bail of 6,000 euros.

When the events occurred, he was head of Weapons Intervention at the Monzón Civil Guard post.

He lived in Barbastro, was married and is the father of two children.

In addition to teaching extracurricular English classes in two schools, he had an intense social life, being a collaborator with a basketball club as a monitor and also a member of an athletics club.

It was also in charge of attracting advertisers for the teams and promoting solidarity and grassroots basketball promotion campaigns.

Suspicion of a teacher

The images of a video, collected by a camera placed by a teacher from one of the centers, where the alleged abuses were observed, have been decisive for the conviction.

The video showed a series of actions that, in the opinion of the Huesca Court, show that there was sexual abuse.

The accused, who denied the facts at all times, indicated that what was seen in the images was that he is a "too affectionate" person.

In the sentence, the court states that the defendant "abused those he had to educate, protect and care for."

A teacher surprised Serafin EC in her class with a child on her knees, reacting the now condemned in a strange way.

This attitude alarmed the teacher, who decided to place a video camera on her own.

Upon seeing the images and verifying the sexual content, she brought it to the attention of the Civil Guard, which launched an investigation based on the complaints made by some parents.

The legality or not of the placement of this camera was the key to the defense, which argued that "it violated the right of the teacher and the children."

Argument that has been dismissed by the Court considering that it was a "proportionate" action and motivated by well-founded suspicions "without violating the privacy of children".

It points out that it is a measure endorsed by the Supreme Court in the event of action by private individuals, not so if it were carried out by State security forces.

The ruling can be appealed before the High Court of Justice of Aragon within 10 days, although the lawyer who has defended a large part of the victims, José María Orús, has requested that the convicted person be imprisoned due to the possibility of escape risk..

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  • Civil Guard

  • Ministry of Defence

  • supreme court

  • Aragon

  • Justice