A tourist has been arrested in Magaluf for kissing a four-year-old British boy in a hotel swimming pool, an incident that led to his detention on suspicion of sexual assault and a closed-door court appearance in Palma.
The arrest
The alleged assault took place on the afternoon of Wednesday, 20 May 2026, at an unnamed hotel in the Majorcan party resort. A 33-year-old Romanian man is said to have approached the child, hugged him and kissed him on the face in full view of other holidaymakers. The boy’s mother immediately confronted the man, who stopped and withdrew. Other witnesses then alerted hotel staff, who contacted the local police — the Policia Local working for Calvia Town Hall. Officers arrived at the scene, took statements from witnesses and the child’s parents, and arrested the suspect on suspicion of sexual assault.
Under Spanish law, a charge of sexual assault covers any non-consensual sexual act, including unwanted kissing. The fact that the victim is a four-year-old — a minor legally incapable of giving consent — makes the allegation particularly serious. The suspect was taken into custody and held overnight in a police cell.
Court appearance
The following day, Thursday, 21 May 2026, two officers of the Guardia Civil escorted the man from the cell to a court building in the Majorcan capital, Palma. He was led into the building in handcuffs, still wearing the same black T-shirt, shorts and sandals he had on at the time of his arrest. The hearing was held behind closed doors. No information has yet been released about whether the suspect was granted bail or remanded in custody. The Guardia Civil has taken over the investigation from the local police.
The British family involved in the incident have since returned to the United Kingdom. It is not known whether they cut their holiday short or left as originally planned.
Broader context
The arrest is the latest in a series of sexual assault cases in Magaluf involving British tourists. Earlier in May 2026, police arrested a van driver accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a young British woman on Palma’s seafront promenade, the Paseo Marítimo. In August 2023, six tourists — five French and one Swiss — were arrested over the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old British woman in Magaluf; video clips of the attack were later found on the suspects’ phones. In July of the same year, two Irish men were arrested on suspicion of raping a British woman in a Magaluf hotel and were remanded in prison. In August 2015, two British men were arrested in Magaluf on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old woman.
More recently, in March 2026, eight men admitted wrongdoing in plea‑bargain deals over the alleged rape of an 18-year-old British tourist in a Magaluf hotel in August 2023, an attack that was filmed and shared on Snapchat. In a separate incident, earlier in May 2026, three off‑duty Toronto police officers were arrested in Spain — two on charges of sexual assault and assault causing injuries in Barcelona, and a third for attacking an agent of authority after being found in Palma de Mallorca. All three were suspended with pay by their employer pending details from Spanish authorities.
