Bulnes: 11-Year Prison Sentence for Shop Owner Convicted of Repeated Sexual Abuse of Young Girls

Original article: Bulnes: 11 años de cárcel para dueño de almacén que abusaba sexualmente de niñas cuando iban a comprar

Israel Campos Villanueva has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing four young girls who visited his store in Bulnes, located in the Ñuble region.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office reported that the prosecutor demonstrated to the Oral Criminal Court in Chillán that the accused «committed acts of a sexual nature and significance against the victims between 2022 and 2023. The girls, aged between 5 and 10, were able to recount similar experiences of abuse thanks to one courageous report from a victim.»

After three days of trial, the court established that a close community context facilitated the crimes, indicating that there was «a pattern of conduct exhibited by the perpetrator who committed the offenses while the neighborhood girls came to buy items at his grocery store,» explained prosecutor Álvaro Hermosilla Bustos.

The prosecutor also noted that the court rejected the defense’s argument, which claimed that the incidents were the result of collective panic induced by an alleged false report.

«The testimonies presented were found to be logical, coherent, and truthful, thus sufficient to establish that they reflected real events and not mere ideas introduced by third-party accounts,» stated the court regarding this matter.

Cover Image: Referenced (archive)

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El Ciudadano