A major scandal has erupted in the Spanish capital after it was revealed that a man detained on suspicion of attacking a 14-year-old girl turned out not to be a teenager, but an adult. Medical examinations established his age as 23, although he had previously claimed to be only 17.
This man, a Moroccan citizen, had been placed in a juvenile center in the Hortaleza district, where the incident occurred. However, after conducting X-rays and other medical tests, it became clear that his actual date of birth did not match the one listed in his documents. The minimum age indicated by the analysis was 19, with 23 being the most likely. Consequently, he had no right to be in a facility for minors or benefit from its protections.
Immediately after receiving the results, the judge handling the case transferred it to a court of general jurisdiction. The man will now be tried as an adult and not under juvenile law. He may soon be transferred to a regular prison.
Staff at the center had doubts about the man’s age from the moment he arrived. He refused to undergo medical exams that could have verified his claims. Only after the incident in August 2025 did the prosecutor’s office insist that all the necessary tests be carried out.
On September 24, the suspect was taken to the hospital, where X-rays of his hand and teeth were performed, along with a CT scan of his collarbones. The results confirmed suspicions: the man had deliberately misled the system to avoid a stricter regime of detention.
During his short stay in Madrid, this individual had already attracted police attention multiple times. Four months before the attack, he had been detained eight times on various charges: theft, robbery, threats, involvement in mass brawls, and assaults on police officers. Despite this, he was released each time. It was only after the most recent incident that he was isolated from society.
This case has once again raised doubts about the effectiveness of the system for admitting underage migrants. At one of the centers in Alcalá de Henares, around forty more people are now awaiting verification, all of whom claimed to be under 18 upon entering Spain. Until the medical reports are ready, they remain in separate quarters. Ministry officials note that some newcomers deliberately present themselves as minors to avoid harsher conditions of detention.
The Madrid prosecutor’s office has long warned about the system’s overload. Last year alone, almost two thousand underage migrants arrived in the capital, most of them by air, mainly from Casablanca and Egypt. For comparison, the previous year there were several times fewer such cases.
Due to a lack of resources and wait times for medical examinations that can last up to six months, such situations become possible. As a result, adults with criminal backgrounds can remain under state protection intended for children for extended periods, committing new offenses.
