THE so-called 'Paedophile of Ciudad Lineal' sentenced to 70 years and six months in jail has lost his appeal after his custodial term was upheld by the Supreme Court, the highest contentious audience in Spain, this week.
Antonio Ortiz, described by court psychiatrists as 'arrogant and narcissistic' with 'an inflated sense of entitlement' which meant he felt 'no remorse' for his actions and persistently denied them despite evidence of his guilt, is known to have targeted at least four girls aged between six and nine while they were playing in a park in the Madrid neighbourhood of Ciudad Lineal.
One of them was raped in her own home, as she had her door key on a cord around her neck.
Of the four victims, one was of Chinese origin and the other Japanese, and the other two are believed to be Spanish, whilst a girl from the Dominican Republic nearly became the fifth victim, but got away.
It was the last girl's clear description of the attacker that led to his being identified and traced to his uncle's flat in Santander, Cantabria, where he was hiding out.
His modus operandi was the same in all cases – he would approach the girls, encouraging them to go off with him by saying their mothers were aware and had agreed, then drugged them with Lorazepam, a very strong tranquilliser and sleeping pill.
In most cases, he took them to his mother's flat in Coslada, Madrid, when she was out, and raped them whilst they were dozy or unconscious.
He then washed them to remove evidence and released them, still drowsy or asleep, in stretches of wasteland several kilometres from where he had found them.
All five are said to have displayed clear symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have been in counselling, and some of them are now said to be scared of strange men and frightened to go outside.
Two of the girls were given such a high dose of Lorazepam that they nearly died, with one of them being in a coma for several days.
One girl was so badly injured after Ortiz raped her that she needed two operations to rebuild her.
Ortiz was sentenced formally two weeks ago, but his defence put forward 14 reasons to acquit him, including alleged discrepancies in witness testimonies due to the fact that four of the girls had only a hazy memory of their ordeal.
But the Supreme Court magistrate threw all these factors out.
Although Ortiz, 45, is sentenced to 70 years and six months, he will only have to serve 20 years, which was the maximum for child abuse at the time of the crime, in summer 2014, before a draft law allowing for permanent life imprisonment was produced in Spain.
He has also been ordered to pay compensation to the girls, including the one who escaped, to a total of €375,000.
Ortiz has been described as 'very violent' and practises body-building and weight-lifting, and was said to be 'working' as a hired debt collector at the time of his arrest.
He is a known sex offender with a conviction dating back to the 1990s.
Ortiz has two young children with his ex-wife Rosa, but none of the three has any contact with him.
