A Barcelona resident received a six-month prison sentence after admitting to a year-long campaign of racist harassment and threats against his Cuban neighbour in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi.

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This week, in a plea agreement ratified at the Provincial Court of Barcelona, the man pleaded guilty to a hate crime, a crime against moral integrity, and a minor offence of making threats.

Although he will avoid jail time, the conviction includes a €2,700 fine, €3,000 compensation for the victim, and a three-and-a-half-year restraining order. This order prevents him from approaching within 100 metres of the woman or communicating with her.

The court also banned him from holding any profession in teaching, sports, or leisure activities for the same period.

A Year of Systematic Abuse

The harrowing ordeal took place between January 2022 and February 2023. The public prosecutor’s indictment, fully accepted by the man, detailed systematic abuse occurring at least twice a week. The man, who lives in a first-floor flat, would shout racist insults from his window at the victim, a Cuban woman, whenever she tended her plot in a municipal urban garden below.

Marta Gloria López Catalá, the prosecutor for Hate Crimes and Discrimination, detailed how the man aimed to “humiliate and threaten the woman because of her skin colour, morphological characteristics, and foreign origin.”

The court heard that he repeatedly yelled phrases such as, “Black woman, go back to your country,” and “F***ing black woman, get rid of everything you have planted here, put it under the bed.” This verbal assault would continue for the entire time the victim was present in the garden.

Death Threats and a Chase

The campaign of intimidation escalated significantly on 14 November 2022. On that day, the man’s insults intensified, culminating in a direct death threat. El Nacional reported that he shouted vile abuse, including, “I would be reincarnated as a bull to get you,” and then asked, “Do you want me to get my pistol and put a bullet in you?”

The breaking point came on 4 January 2023. After another tirade from his window, the man left his home and followed the woman down the street, shouting. Terrified, she fled to the nearby Mossos d’Esquadra police station in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, filing the formal complaint that led to the investigation and conviction.

Prosecutors initially sought a two-year prison sentence. However, the man’s full admission of guilt, part of a plea bargain known as a juicio de conformidad in the Spanish judicial system, resulted in a reduced six-month sentence. Under Spanish law, prison sentences under two years for non-violent offences are typically suspended for first-time offenders.

In her final report, the prosecutor concluded that the “systematic and continuous way of mockingly and contemptuously addressing the woman, due to her origin and morphological characteristics, spanned a long period. This public exposure wounded her self-esteem and undermined her dignity.”

As a direct result of the prolonged harassment, the victim developed reactive anxious symptomatology. Although she did not require medication, she received crucial psychosocial support from the Barcelona City Council’s Office for Non-Discrimination (OND) to aid her recovery, as reported by Metrópoli Abierta.

The court-mandated restraining order, initially imposed as a precautionary measure, will now remain in force for three and a half years.