Four British tourists were attacked by an alleged serial rapist while on holiday at a paradise resort in Costa Rica, a court has been told.
Cristopher Andres Picado Ramírez, 28, is said to have assaulted the four Britons as well as a woman from Argentina and two minors from Costa Rica.
The surfing instructor is accused of forcing himself upon the women at various locations in the resort region of Santa Teresa on Costa Rica's west coast, reported The Sun newspaper.
He is alleged to have abused some of the women inside the bathroom of a bar in Santa Teresa, local media said.
Other attacks are alleged to have taken place at parties on farms near to the town’s beach.
The alleged victims are aged 18 to 24, with the assaults said to have taken place between 2019 and 2022.
Another case of an attack on a foreigner is still pending DNA results, local media said.
Picado Ramírez was arrested in April 2022 after the four British tourists filed complaints with Costa Rican police.
However, judges granted him bail in a move criticised by campaigners in Costa Rica.
The British women did not appear at a two day court hearing in late April, The Sun reported, but are thought to have given evidence from the Costa Rican consulate in London.
The trial was supposed to conclude last week, but stalled after Picado Ramírez presented one of his alleged victims as a defence witness.
Walter Brenes, lawyer for three of the victims, said he was “completely baffled,” telling the Sun: “In a hypothetical defence of myself, I would not offer a victim as evidence, knowing that the victim is still a victim.”
The trial is set to conclude next week.
