Simon Hunter
THE SUPREME COURT has quashed a rape conviction passed down to a Moroccan bricklayer for a sexual assault that took place more than 30 years ago. Ahmed Tommouhi was incorrectly identified as the author of a series of sexual assaults that took place in 1991, and spent 15 years in jail.
Tommouhi was sentenced in 1992 for two sexual assaults that had in fact been carried out by another man who had a very similar physical appearance.
The Supreme Court ruling has quashed the sentence passed down by the Barcelona Provincial Court that condemned him to 24 years in jail for two rape offenses and two assault charges.
The key to the ruling were several reports that found that semen that was gathered from the clothing of one of the victims had no genetic match to Tommouhi.
The only evidence against Tommouhi was his identification in a police line-up. However, according to Spanish daily El Pais one of the victims of the rapes, identified only as Nuria, has since admitted that she made a mistake back in 1991 by mistakenly identifying Tommouhi, due to his similarity to the true rapist.
Tommouhi was 40 years old when he arrived in Spain, but was arrested just six months later for these crimes that he did not commit and spent 15 years in jail. According to El Pais, he never wanted to return to his home country until his name was cleared in Spain.
The 72-year-old told El Pais that he will now continue to wait until the third and final rape conviction against him is finally quashed.
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