Six months in prison for hate crime confirmed for a man who insulted his doctor

The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has confirmed the sentence of the Third Section of the Provincial Court of Huelva that has convicted a man from La Palma del Condado (Huelva) of a hate crime and sentenced him to six months in prison and the payment of compensation of 1,500 euro for moral damage to a doctor originally from the Dominican Republic who treated him at the county municipality’s health centre and whom he called “panchita”, a colloquial insult for a South American person.

According to the sentence, the events occurred in March 2020 when the convicted person went to the La Palma del Condado health centre in order to receive medical assistance.

There, he had to wait to be treated due to a technical problem in the office of the doctor who provided the emergency service, who went to the nursing office to treat him, “at which time the accused, with the deliberate purpose of humiliating her and undermining her moral integrity, motivated by the national origin of the health worker, born in the Dominican Republic”, he addressed her shouting in the presence of the rest of the users “panchita, go to your country to work, you came here and you don’t want to work”.

Due to this, the health professional “had to be helped by another colleague who accompanied her to the administration counter, while the accused followed her through the corridors of the health centre.”

Given this, the defence appealed to the TSJA, pointing out that the statements of the now convicted man “were the result of an uncontrolled situation” since “the helplessness he felt in the face of the doctor’s inattention due to a simple computer problem in her office at that she gave priority, was what led him to act suddenly and without even thinking about what he was saying because of the feverish state he was in.

However, the Andalusian High Court appears in its ruling “to agree with the assessment of the Court of Huelva” which stated that “there is no doubt about the voluntariness of the action and the awareness of the accused that his words of contempt directed at her said them to this person only in response to her nationality, evidencing the desire to humiliate her because of her status as a foreigner and therefore for discriminatory reasons and not because of the poor service provided, even though she did so on the occasion of what she considered a lack of attention to the patient”.

Thus, it “rules out that the offensive words directed by the accused to the doctor were a consequence of the feverish state he was presenting at that time and could cause him to ramble or say unconsidered incoherencies as a reaction to the doctor’s attitude.”

The TSJA clarifies that in the case, “it is true that the accused’s conduct was punctual, but we cannot classify it as a simple reaction to a situation that the accused could not control, no matter how indignant he might be at not receiving the prompt medical intervention that he needed.”

In this way, the TSJA considers that the words of the convicted person “do not allow doubt about the true intention and will of the accused when pronouncing them” which is “to discredit” her before the people who were in the health centre, “to despise or disdain his worth.” and humiliate or hurt her in her self-esteem, in a clear outward appearance of a feeling or an internal ideology of hatred of those who are different for being a foreigner and not only residing but also practicing Medicine in Spain, in evident breach of the principle of equality.”

For all these reasons, the Andalusian High Court rejects the defence’s appeal and thus ratifies the sentence of the Provincial Court of Huelva that condemns him as the author criminally responsible for a hate crime already defined to a sentence of six months in prison and a fine of six months with a daily fee of six euro, as well as to compensate the doctor with 1,500 euro for moral damage, but acquits him of the minor crime of threats.

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