An Irish tourist has been fined 2,700 euros (approximately £2,325) and ordered to pay 500 euros (approximately £430) in compensation to her victim after admitting to groping an 18-year-old Swedish tourist in a Magaluf hotel sauna. The incident occurred on June 3, 2025, at the four-star Hotel Martinique.
The woman, who was 37 at the time of the incident and on holiday with her husband, entered an unexpected guilty plea on the day her trial was scheduled to begin. She had previously insisted on having her day in court to clear her name, and her lawyer had indicated she did not accept she committed a crime, framing the event as a misunderstanding.
Prosecutors had initially sought an 18-month prison sentence and a ban from working with minors for two years. However, following the woman's last-minute decision to agree to a plea bargain, prosecutors accepted a financial penalty to resolve the matter. The woman entered her guilty plea via video link from outside the island at the Audiencia Provincial Court in Palma, Majorca.
According to the prosecution's indictment, the woman sat beside the Swedish teenager in the hotel's Turkish steam bath and, "with a lustful spirit, taking advantage of the fact that no one else was there and against his will, put her hands on his genitals and fondled them until he said 'no, no, no' and left." The two had reportedly engaged in small talk in the sauna before moving to the steam bath.
The Swedish tourist alerted hotel staff, who then contacted the police. The woman was arrested and spent a night in a police cell before being released on bail pending the investigation. Her defense lawyer had previously argued that no crime had taken place, suggesting the interaction was a simple misunderstanding and that the woman believed the teenager was interested in her. She reportedly removed her hand as soon as the teenager protested.
Under Spanish law, prison sentences of two years or less for first-time offenders are typically suspended. The plea bargain means the woman avoided a potential jail sentence, although she was warned of the possibility of up to 18 months imprisonment if convicted at trial.