Man arrested in Ibiza for sexually assaulting a patient admitted to Can Misses Hospital

The National Police have arrested a man for sexually assaulting a woman who was admitted to Can Misses Hospital. The incident took place at around 3am on Monday, when the patient suffered the alleged sexual assault, as first reported by Noudiari and confirmed to Diario de Ibiza by the National Police.

Officers are investigating the incident and the National Police expect to provide more details about what happened this Friday. The alleged attacker is understood to be a man with no connection to the hospital who went up to the ward where the victim was admitted and, once there, allegedly committed the sexual assault.

Shortly after the assault became known, the Health Area called the media to explain that the alleged attacker forced open a security door, although officials did not specify which one because it forms part of the police investigation.

According to their account, nursing staff saw the man running through the hospital corridors, but were unable to catch him.

The victim was in a double room and the other patient sharing the room was in the shower at the time, explained Eduardo Escudero, manager of the Pityusic Health Area. “It was also a shocking situation for all the nursing staff, auxiliaries and porters because this is the first time that an assault of this kind has happened” at the hospital, said the head of public healthcare in the Pityusic Islands.

“Unfortunately, we deal with many sexual assaults, but they are external cases and the emergency department protocols or 061 procedures are activated”, Escudero added in reference to what happened.

When the incident became known, the sexual assault protocol was activated and the centre’s security staff attended the scene. As it was a serious incident, they called the National Police directly.

More security

The Ibiza PSOE has expressed its “firmest and absolute condemnation” of the incident, adding that it represents “a blatant violation of the most basic security and a brutal attack on a woman who, precisely at a moment of vulnerability, deserved all the protection that the health system is obliged to guarantee”.

“That a man could enter the hospital at night, go up to a ward with admitted patients, enter a room and sexually assault a woman without being identified until hours later reveals an extremely serious security failure. There can be no excuses or half measures: the system failed and this has consequences”, the party stressed.

In this regard, the Socialists reiterated the existence of “extremely serious failures that require an urgent response”. They also called on “the Ibiza and Formentera Health Area to offer clear, public and transparent explanations as to how this access was possible and what security protocols were in place at the time of the incident”, and demanded that “access controls at the hospital be strengthened urgently and immediately, especially at night, to guarantee the safety of all admitted patients”.

As for the victim, they called for her to be “guaranteed comprehensive, specialised care with a gender perspective, as well as the support and resources she needs throughout the entire process”. They also demanded that “the judicial response be firm, swift and proportionate to the extreme seriousness of the incident”.

“A hospital is a place of healing. It cannot become a place where women are vulnerable. Women have the right to be safe in all spaces, especially when we need it most. What happened at Can Misses cannot happen again, and we demand that the competent institutions act with the same firmness with which we raise our voices today”, they said.

Security reinforcement at health centres

On Wednesday, the Ibiza and Formentera Health Area announced that, from 15 May, it will reinforce security at the main health centres in the Pityusic Islands. The measure is being brought forward compared with last year, when these reinforcements began at the end of May, and will remain in place until the end of October.

The health centres in Ibiza Town, Sant Antoni and Santa Eulària, which have a Primary Care Emergency Service, will have security staff for twelve hours a day, seven days a week. In Ibiza Town and Sant Antoni, the service will operate at night, from 8pm to 8am, while in Santa Eulària it will run during the day, from 8am to 8pm.

Es Viver Health Centre will have additional security on working days, from 7.30am to 3.30pm. As it does not have a Primary Care Emergency Service, this centre is not active at weekends.

In addition to bringing forward the start of the reinforcements, the security operation will continue until October, a measure that was applied for the first time last year and is being maintained this season. The Hospital and Health Centre of Formentera, meanwhile, has a security service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.