By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | June 1, 2006
NORTON -- A Norton High School senior, William McGrath, spent 33 days in a Spanish jail, surrounded by guards who could not speak English, and aching to
see his family in the United States, McGrath's lawyer said yesterday.
On Sunday, he returned home, released on bail of about $19,000, after a Spanish judge determined that he did not rape a fellow student while they were on
a trip to Spain in April, said Julio Hernando , a Weymouth lawyer who is representing McGrath.
``He is a resilient young man that can't wait to clear his name, along with his life," said Hernando, who said his client plans to speak publicly today.
Toward the end of a weeklong student trip through Spain, McGrath, 19, and a 17-year-old girl from Norton High School had sex in McGrath's hotel room in
Málaga, McGrath's lawyers have said. The girl told Spanish authorities that McGrath assaulted her while she was unconscious, McGrath's lawyers have said,
but McGrath has insisted the sex was consensual.
click for moreThere are further details in the local paper:
The Taunton GazetteQuote:
Bail was set at 15,000 euros - roughly $20,000 - for McGrath two weeks ago, while his mother, Ellen McGrath, was in the country, but it took that time to
get the money to bring her son home, Hernando said.
The bail was issued after a medical report showed that part of the girl's story did not add up.
"She alleged to police, 'He playfully threw me on the bed and I hit my head unintentionally against the headboard and became unconscious,'" Hernando said.
"But the medical review does not support the allegation."
I have to wonder if the tone and perspective of these stories would have been the same six months ago.
