Voted Best
ISSUE NO. 1734
27 Sept. - 3 Oct. 2018
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
COSTA DE ALMERÍA YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
PROPERTY SPECIAL
PA G E S 3 1 - 4 2
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
Doctor in sex abuse trial PROSECUTORS for Almeria Province have requested that a 44-year-old children’s doctor accused of exploiting his position to sexually abuse six patients be jailed for 37 years if found guilty. Carlos Alexander RL, from Colombia, was extradited to Spain in July 2016 to stand trial on the charges of sexual abuse of children in Spain. Prosecutors claimed in their initial submissions to the courts the assaults had
PULLED FREE: The seahorse was safely rescued.
By Joe Gerrard GUARDIA CIVIL underwater officers have pulled a 30-metre fishing net from the sea in the Cabo de Gata area which they said posed serious risks to endangered species. Police were warned about the net by a biologist from the Roquetas de Mar Aquarium who told them it lay in the Vela Blanca area of the sea. The area is home to many protected and endangered aquatic species including seahorses, one of which was rescued as part of the operation. The Guardia Civil said in a statement the fishing net posed a ‘real risk’ for the
Diving in sea life that lived in the area and for passing boats. Boths animals and vessels could get caught in it, police added. Divers with the Guardia Civil were called to the stretch of water and found the net which measured around 30 metres in length. The net stretched from the sea bed almost to the water’s surface, police said. Underwater officers set about trying to cut the net loose and fish
it out of the water in what they said was a ‘risky’ operation. They were supported by a boat from the Junta de Andalucia’s environment department. Divers were first able to close it with harnesses while the boat started to drag it from the sea. It was while the net was being moved that one officer noticed a seahorse tangled in its rope. The net was successfully
pulled from the water. Officers later undertook a new dive to put the seahorse back in an area of sea they considered safe. Seahorses are in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) list of threatened animals. Animals in Appendix II are considered to be in danger of going extinct due to poaching and their habitats being destroyed. The Guardia Civil said those factors and unsustainable fishing techniques meant the remaining seahorse population was ‘seriously threatened.’ Many were being killed after accidentally being caught in nets, officers added.
taken place while he worked at centres in Huercal-Overa, Pulpi and Vera from 2008 to 2013. He had gained the trust of his patients’ mothers, who were also largely Colombian, and was able to convince them to let him spend time alone with their children. It was while with the children that he allegedly abused them. The youngest was four years old, prosecutors claimed. The case continues.