Toiling Midget
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Via Podiensis 2013, Camino Frances (2013)
I'm walking the Camino now. Two days ago, when we stayed in Calzadilla de la Cueza (the 1st town after Carrion de Los Condes), a man followed my hiking partner to the room while the rest of our group was having dinner, and assaulted her. That was bad enough, but when we reported the crime to the woman (chubby, long light brown hair, mid-30s) hostal worker, things got really weird.
The woman refused to believe the peregrina who was attacked, refused to cooperate in any way when we told her we wanted to report the crime to the police, and lied to us repeatedly. We finally managed to piece together that the man who attacked the peregrina is the brother of the owner of Hostal Camino Real. After more than an hour of arguing with this woman and the attacker, we got them to call the police. The police were very professional, and the peregrina was properly taken care of by the Spanish authorities the next day. I am happy to report that they took this crime seriously, and also that they process incidents involving pilgrims quickly so we can be on our way again.
I cannot understand the behavior of these hostal workers towards us, their customers. Personally, I will never go near this place again after the callous way we were treated. The only positive spin I can put on this is that this man now has a police record, so maybe he will think before he grabs a peregrina again.
The police said this was a strong case because we had identified the attacker, had his name, and another pilgrim had recorded the argument we had with the man and woman of the hostal, and the man changed his story from saying he did nothing to admitting that he did part of what the peregrina accused him of doing. Also the woman's lies are recorded, and their attempts to bribe us (rejected, of course.)
I don't know what will happen to this man, if he and the woman will still work at the hostal, restaurant, and albergue in Calzadilla de la Cueza, so I'd like to warn all peregrinas and anyone else who is disgusted by the behavior of these people to avoid these businesses. I hope the owner of the businesses in Calzadilla de la Cuerza will do the right thing and make sure his brother and the woman no longer have access to pilgrims. Meanwhile, there is a very nice hostal at Terradillos de Templarios that is run by decent people.
One thing the woman said to us was to just forget the incident and walk on the next day. She said, you are foreign and peregrinas, he is a native and lives here, so nothing will be done if you report him. I wonder if he has done this before, and this was her advice to other peregrinas, who decided to walk on. So, anyone else out there who had a problem with the tall, heavy-set man, about 50, black hair with some gray? Might strengthen the case against him if he has a pattern of molesting women pilgrims. You could contact police in Palencia.
The woman refused to believe the peregrina who was attacked, refused to cooperate in any way when we told her we wanted to report the crime to the police, and lied to us repeatedly. We finally managed to piece together that the man who attacked the peregrina is the brother of the owner of Hostal Camino Real. After more than an hour of arguing with this woman and the attacker, we got them to call the police. The police were very professional, and the peregrina was properly taken care of by the Spanish authorities the next day. I am happy to report that they took this crime seriously, and also that they process incidents involving pilgrims quickly so we can be on our way again.
I cannot understand the behavior of these hostal workers towards us, their customers. Personally, I will never go near this place again after the callous way we were treated. The only positive spin I can put on this is that this man now has a police record, so maybe he will think before he grabs a peregrina again.
The police said this was a strong case because we had identified the attacker, had his name, and another pilgrim had recorded the argument we had with the man and woman of the hostal, and the man changed his story from saying he did nothing to admitting that he did part of what the peregrina accused him of doing. Also the woman's lies are recorded, and their attempts to bribe us (rejected, of course.)
I don't know what will happen to this man, if he and the woman will still work at the hostal, restaurant, and albergue in Calzadilla de la Cueza, so I'd like to warn all peregrinas and anyone else who is disgusted by the behavior of these people to avoid these businesses. I hope the owner of the businesses in Calzadilla de la Cuerza will do the right thing and make sure his brother and the woman no longer have access to pilgrims. Meanwhile, there is a very nice hostal at Terradillos de Templarios that is run by decent people.
One thing the woman said to us was to just forget the incident and walk on the next day. She said, you are foreign and peregrinas, he is a native and lives here, so nothing will be done if you report him. I wonder if he has done this before, and this was her advice to other peregrinas, who decided to walk on. So, anyone else out there who had a problem with the tall, heavy-set man, about 50, black hair with some gray? Might strengthen the case against him if he has a pattern of molesting women pilgrims. You could contact police in Palencia.