- Prosecutors wanted the Briton jailed for nine years, but he reached a plea deal
A British tourist has been sentenced to four years in prison after confessing to raping his son’s friend in a hotel room in Magaluf.
Spanish state prosecutors said before today’s trial in Mallorca that they wanted him jailed for nine years if convicted of the May 9, 2023, sexual attack.
The 43-year-old Briton, identified in court documents as David McPaul Wigging, reached a plea deal through his lawyer ahead of a full trial at the Court of Appeal in Palma, the island’s capital, this morning.
It was confirmed that he would receive a four-year prison sentence during a brief public hearing afterwards.
The fact that he was very drunk when he attacked his victim, who is also believed to be British, was taken into account in mitigation.
Spanish state prosecutors said before today’s trial in Mallorca that they wanted the man (pictured left) to be jailed for nine years if convicted of the May 9, 2023, sexual attack.
The 43-year-old Briton (centre) reached a plea deal through his lawyer ahead of the full trial at the Court of Appeal in Palma, the island’s capital, this morning.
He will be expelled from Spain once he has served half of his sentence.
Prosecutors described in a pretrial indictment how the British man agreed to let the woman he raped stay in his room after her son chatted with her around the pool at their vacation hotel.
They said in the two-page indictment: ‘In the early morning of May 9, 2023, the defendant, with the intention of satisfying his sexual desire, and taking advantage of the fact that his victim had consumed a large amount of alcohol and was in a deep sleep in a sofa bed, he approached her and penetrated her without her realizing it.
‘When she woke up and started yelling at him to stop, he grabbed her arm (…).
‘The woman later went to a medical center and was very emotionally affected and in a state of depression.
“The medical experts who examined her recorded that she had three small bruises consistent with being grabbed, as well as marks on her chest.”
Spanish state prosecutors said ahead of David McPaul Wigging’s trial today in Mallorca that they wanted him to be jailed for nine years if convicted of the May 9, 2023 sexual attack (Magaluf file image)
The man was detained at Palma airport after “packing his bags and trying to return to the UK” hours after the rape. He has been in prison since then.
As well as serving a four-year prison sentence, he will also pay his victim £6,400 in compensation as part of the plea deal.
Local reports at the time of her arrest said police took a statement from the rape victim before going to the unnamed Magaluf hotel where the sexual attack took place and finding the man they were looking for had already left the hotel.
He was arrested at the gate of his flight, allegedly having prematurely cut short his vacation by rescheduling his return days before his original departure by purchasing a new ticket home.
An investigating magistrate ordered his preventive detention after he was brought to court for questioning during a closed-door session in which the woman, supposedly British and in her 20s, gave her version of the events.
It is not yet clear where the confessed rapist will serve his prison sentence. The time he has already spent behind bars will be taken into account when determining when he will be a free man again.