A Dutch man who has been behind bars for 12 years will have his appeal considered by Spain’s Supreme Court after new DNA evidence points to a British suspect.
Romano Liberto van der Dussen, then 30, was arrested in September 2003 in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. Police accused him of severely beating and trying to rape three women.
Two of the women involved and a witness watching from a window identified van der Dussen.
Although his DNA did not match that found at the scene, he was convicted and sentenced to 15.5 years for sexual assault, attempted rape, causing bodily harm and violent robbery.
In 2008 Mark Dixie was given a 34-year prison sentence in the UK for the 2005 rape and murder of Sally Anne Bowman, an 18-year-old model in London.
A new analysis of the DNA evidence was carried out this year by the Netherlands’ National Forensic Investigations Agency. The DNA from the scene did match a genetic sample from Mark Dixie, who also had been living in Spain at the time.
Spain’s Supreme Court said it will now accept van der Dussen’s appeal, having rejected several previous appeals.
"I have been in jail for over 11 years for crimes I did not commit. I have been through an indescribable hell," he said in an interview published in May in the daily newspaper El Pais.
"During this time I have seen people get stabbed, others commit suicide, others get raped over unpaid debts... all of this has caused me irreparable damage," he added.
Comments
Yet do Spanish jails recognise and treat his mental illness? And more importantly compensate him for a flawed prosecution and multiple appeals ?
Or is it easier for the Spanish to piss about attempting to prosecute other Governments than get their own cess pit cleaned up ?