A conservative (PP) councillor at the Mocidade (Galicia) Town Hall reportedly hanged himself shortly before he was to be arrested over an underage-sex allegation.

The mother of a 15-year-old girl had reported him to the police, accusing him of sexual abuse. Subsequent investigations indicated that the victim believed she was in a consensual relationship. Even so, the relationship, however consensual the girl’s abuser had led her to believe it was, was still a crime.

Following their investigation, the Guardia Civil had gone to the home of Rolando Mejuto García in Melide to question and arrest him, only to find the Councillor for Youth hanging from a tree. It was his 45th birthday.

When they knocked at the door only his wife was at home and when asked where he was she replied that she had no idea. The man’s car was parked in front of the house with his wallet and mobile phone inside so the police suspected that he was close to hand.

It was when they started looking around the immediate area that they found him.

It appears that the councillor and the teenager had met when he was the driver of her school bus.

The Councillor, described as a discreet and dedicated man, leaves behind a wife and two young children.

Editorial comment: the collateral damage from this affair is appalling; a widow and two fatherless children and an adolescent girl who will be emotionally scarred for the rest of her life.

The offender, who not only abused an adolescent child, but lied and cheated on his family, ultimately paid for those breaches of trust with his life…

(News: Galicia, Spain)