Magaluf hotel arrest: Romanian man held for 'kissing British boy', 4, in swimming pool

Crime

A Romanian national has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault after allegedly approaching and kissing a young child in front of tourists

Gerard Couzens

A Man has been arrested for kissing a four-year-old British boy in a Magaluf hotel swimming pool

The Romanian 33-year-old was held after allegedly going up to the youngster and hugging and kissing him on the face in front of stunned holidaymakers.

The bizarre incident happened on Wednesday afternoon at an unnamed hotel in the Mallorcan party resort.

The boy’s horrified mother immediately challenged the man after seeing what was happening, prompting him to desist straight away according to well-placed sources.

Several witnesses who had been relaxing around the pool alerted hotel staff who called local police working for Calvia Town Hall which covers the Magaluf area.

Officers took statements from them and the child’s parents before arresting the suspect on suspicion of sexual assault.

He was escorted to court yesterday afternoon by two Guardia Civil officers after a night in a police cell.

The police led him into the court building in the Majorcan capital Palma in handcuffs, in the same top, shorts and sandals he had been wearing when he was arrested.

It was not immediately clear today what had happened in court as the hearing was held behind closed-doors, and whether the investigating judge had decided to continue probing him and in the meantime release him on bail or remand him to a local prison.

The British family is known to have returned home following the incident, although it is not clear whether they cut short their holiday or were scheduled to fly back to the UK on the date they did.

Earlier this month police arrested a van driver who abducted a young British tourist on Palma’s seafront promenade the Paseo Maritimo and sexually assaulted her.

The suspect allegedly bundled her into his vehicle after spotting her walking back to her hotel from a nightspot in the Mallorcan capital.

Detectives say he got out of the van and grabbed her by the arm to force her into the passenger’s seat.

He then sped off and sexually assaulted her as he drove along the road.

The British woman, whose age has not been revealed, only managed to escape after the alleged sex offender had to stop at a red light and two people in a car following them who had witnessed the street abduction intervened.

The witnesses managed to take a photograph of the suspect’s licence plate which was key to enabling police to locate the man and arrest him.

The incident happened in the early hours of May 10.

The age and nationality of the suspect, arrested a few hours after the incident, has not been revealed.

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