The Lleida Provincial Court on Thursday acquitted a man accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter after the young woman, now 19, admitted during the trial that she had made up the facts she had reported, according to La Mañana and SEGRE. The prosecution, which had sought five years in prison, withdrew the charge and asked the court to refer the matter so that it can be assessed whether the young woman should be investigated for a possible false report.

The court delivered an oral acquittal, finding in the man’s favour on every count, according to SEGRE. The ruling is final, as none of the parties will appeal.

What was reported

The facts originally reported would have taken place between June 2020 and June 2021, when the man lived in Lleida with the young woman’s mother, according to La Mañana. According to the prosecution, the man took advantage of moments when he was alone with the girl to touch her. The girl would then have been 13 or 14, according to La Ciutat. SEGRE reported the day before the trial that the alleged abuse would have taken place continuously and repeatedly over a year.

The prosecution charged him with continuous sexual abuse of a child under 13 and sought five years in prison, nine years’ disqualification from jobs involving direct contact with minors, five years of supervised release and 6,000 euros in compensation for moral damages, according to the same newspaper. It also sought an order barring him from coming within 500 metres of the young woman or contacting her for five years, according to SEGRE.

The charge was abuse rather than assault because the facts would have taken place before the reform of the Criminal Code known as the «only yes means yes» law, which came into force in October 2022 and merged conduct previously classed as abuse into the offence of sexual assault, according to SEGRE.

«Era una nena a qui castigaven»

Before the court, the young woman explained that she made it all up because «hi havia discussions» (there were arguments) at home and «era una nena a qui castigaven» (I was a girl who got punished), according to La Mañana. She said she was then «una mica ingènua» (a bit naive) and did not think about the seriousness of what she was reporting or the consequences it could have.

According to SEGRE, the young woman made the report when she was a minor and was angry with the man, now her mother’s former partner, because he punished her during family arguments. Before the court she said she had made everything up and had not considered how serious such an accusation could be, according to La Ciutat.

The young woman said that when she tried to retract, she was still a minor and living in a juvenile centre. According to her testimony, she was afraid, felt pressured and did not dare take the step because she was not believed and was told she could end up in a closed centre, according to La Mañana. After turning 18 and leaving the centre, her sense of guilt grew because she felt she was harming someone who «no s’ho mereixia» (did not deserve it), according to the same newspaper.

A recording that emerged the day before

During the hearing the defence produced a recording of a conversation between the young woman and her sister in which she said she had been wrong, that the facts reported were untrue and that she wanted to withdraw the complaint against the man, according to La Mañana. The recording came to light the day before the trial, according to SEGRE.

The accused: four years without seeing his son

The accused denied ever touching his stepdaughter and said he treated her as his own daughter, according to both newspapers. According to La Ciutat, he denied it throughout the proceedings. He said they argued a lot and that before the complaint she told him they would make his life impossible because he wanted to take her brother with him, according to La Mañana. The brother is the son of the accused and the young woman’s mother.

During the trial, the man said he has not been able to see his son for four years, according to the same newspaper.

Why the charge was dropped

The young woman had wanted to withdraw the complaint before the trial but did not do so, according to her own testimony. The prosecution’s decision came at the hearing itself, after hearing her. The prosecution dropped the charge because it considered the young woman’s testimony to be the main evidence for the prosecution and, once she denied that the facts were true, there was nothing left to support a conviction, according to La Mañana. The lawyer for the Catalan government also supported the acquittal.

The prosecution also asked for the matter to be referred to assess whether the young woman’s conduct could amount to the offence of making a false report. The court said it will examine the case before deciding whether to send the facts to another court for investigation, according to both newspapers.

The figures for Lleida’s courts

Lleida’s courts handed down 52 final judgments for offences against sexual freedom last year, according to SEGRE, which published the figure the day before the trial. The figure has been rising for five years: in 2024 there were 48, the highest since 2020, according to the same newspaper.

Across the province, police forces recorded 291 offences against sexual freedom in 2025, 5.2% fewer than the year before, according to the Interior crime report cited by Nació Digital, the latest with full-year data. Reported rapes numbered 133, down 15.8%. In the city of Lleida, 106 offences against sexual freedom were recorded, down 17.2%, of which 46 were rapes, down 19.3%, according to the same outlet. In total, the province recorded 22,382 criminal offences in 2025, 2.4% fewer than the year before, and the city 9,409, 4% fewer. These are offences known to the police, not convictions.

The change in the law

The Spanish Attorney General’s Office’s annual report published in 2025, with 2024 data, recorded 32,357 preliminary proceedings for offences against sexual freedom and integrity in Spain, 9.96% more than the year before, according to El Salto. The report reflects the impact of the «only yes means yes» law on the statistics: proceedings for sexual abuse went from 8,634 in 2022 to 2,496 in 2023 and 1,414 in 2024, while those for sexual assault rose from 9,603 in 2022 to 18,474 in 2023 and 20,711 in 2024.

According to the same outlet, the report explains these changes by the disappearance of the offence of sexual abuse, whose conduct was merged into sexual assault by Organic Law 10/2022 of 6 September on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom. The reform changed the sentencing range for such conduct and applied to complaints of sexual assault filed from 6 October 2022, according to the same outlet. In offences against children under 16, sexual assaults rose 68.72% in 2024 and abuse fell 40.79%.

The prosecution service warns that in 2024 there could still be abuse charges for acts committed before the reform, as in this case, and that these will decline in coming years, according to El Salto. The report also stresses that in these crimes, precisely because they happen in private, an undetermined level of impunity persists because the conduct does not come to light, and that they are often committed by taking advantage of close relationships between victim and abuser, such as family, school or sports clubs, according to the same outlet. The report adds that everyone is responsible for creating a climate of support so that victims can break their silence. It was published on 5 September 2025, after the opening of the judicial year at the Supreme Court.

What is not on record

None of the sources cited identifies the accused or the young woman. Nor is it on record why the Catalan government’s lawyer took part in the trial, how long the man was under investigation, or whether he was subject to precautionary measures during the investigation. The court has not yet decided whether it will send the facts to another court to investigate a possible false report. The sources also do not say whether the young woman’s mother testified at the trial or what she said, or in which juvenile centre the young woman lived.

Sources and verification

Information based on SEGRE, 15 October 2026; La Mañana, 15 October 2026; SEGRE, 14 October 2026; Nació Digital, 19 February 2026, with Interior data; El Salto, 5 September 2025, on the Attorney General’s Office annual report; and La Ciutat, 15 October 2026. It has not been possible to consult the ruling, which was delivered orally.