Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexual assault against girl in La Vega

La Vega.– A collegiate court in La Vega sentenced Pedro Antonio Paulino Batista to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in events that occurred in 2023, accepting the request of the Public Ministry. The condemned must serve the sentence at the Correction and Rehabilitation Center (CCR) El Pinito, in La Vega, in addition to paying a fine of RD$50,000 to the Dominican State. The indictment, prepared by the Comprehensive Care Unit for Victims of Gender-Based Violence, Intrafamily Violence, and Sexual Offenses of the Judicial District of La Vega, establishes that the events occurred on several occasions over an approximate period of three months, when the minor was alone in her home. According to the report, the aggressor touched the victim in different parts of her body. In August 2023, he entered the girl's home, tied her feet and hands, and subsequently began to sexually assault her. Following the report of the case and the start of investigations, arrest warrant No. 595-1-2023-SAUT-01864 was executed against Paulino Batista on November 2, 2023.

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"The Public Ministry supported the request for the maximum penalty for these cases with different documentary, expert, audiovisual and testimonial evidence, including a report with the results of a forensic psychological evaluation carried out on the victim," said the chief prosecutor of La Vega, Aura Luz García Martínez. Prosecuting attorney Yudelki de la Rosa, from the aforementioned unit of the Public Ministry, was in charge of the investigation, assigning the case the legal qualification in accordance with several articles of the Dominican Penal Code, modified by Law 24-97 on Gender and Intrafamily Violence, as well as the Code for the Protection and Fundamental Rights of Children and Adolescents. During the trial, the litigating prosecutor Yamilka de la Cruz demonstrated the criminal responsibility of the defendant before the judges Lucrecia Rodríguez, Bionni Zayas and Génesis Tavares, of the First Collegiate Tribunal of the Judicial District of La Vega.