Source: Women are Human
SP — Valladolid, Castile and León. On Tuesday, 19 January, Criminal Court number 1 heard oral arguments in a case stemming from a 2019 incident in a Valladolid lingerie shop.
In the evening of 2 March 2019, a client known only as “VEM” entered a lingerie store in Valladolid, picked out two bras, and requested the permission of store assistant “EGT” to try on the items.
Recognizing the client as male, EGT denied VEM access, notifying the patron of a company policy that bars male individuals from using the changing room.
The patron claimed to be a woman, and after threatening to report the clerk, walked out the store.
VEM returned to the store a few minutes later to declare that, after checking the company’s online policy, the clerk’s actions did run afoul of company policy, and VEM would be filing a report of discrimination.
EGT refused to allow VEM into the changing rooms, but offered the client a claim form.
Security footage taken at approximately 5:15 PM shows that the client became enraged at the clerk’s response, and throw a “row of panties” to the shop floor. The client and store patron began struggling, and VEM appeared to deliver a punch to the worker. VEM would later tell the court that the punch was an act of self-defense to get free from being “shaken” by the worker.
The physical confrontation ended when a clerk from a nearby establishment saw what was happening, and rushed over. The two women held the client until mall security arrived.
The store clerk and the client filed criminal cross-complaints. The clerk’s claim centers on injuries she sustained in the attack. She is requesting that the client be given a five-month prison sentence and a fine of 1,500 euros. The client arguing that being barred from trying on bras in the shop’s changing room was a hate crime, and is demanding the store clerk be sentenced to a year and a half in prison and fined 700 euros as compensation for moral damages.
Featured image: webandi / Pixabay
