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Case Report | DOI: https://doi.org/10.31579/2688-7517/040
1Professor of Legal Psychology at the Universitat Abat Oliba (UAO-CEU).
2Professor of Criminal Psychology at ESERP Business & Law School.
*Corresponding Author: Bernat-N. Tiffon, Professor of Legal Psychology at the Universitat Abat Oliba (UAO-CEU).
Citation: Bernat-N. Tiffon, Jorge González Fernández, (2022). Psychological Profile of a Gerontophilic-Exhibitionist and Fetishist-Misophilic Serial Sex Offender. J. Addiction Research and Adolescent Behaviour. 5(2); DOI: 10.31579/2688-7517/040
Copyright: © 2022 Bernat-N. Tiffon, This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received: 02 February 2022 | Accepted: 22 February 2022 | Published: 15 March 2022
Keywords: paraphilia; gerontophilia; mysophilia; scoptophilia; exhibitionism; excessive sexual drive disorder; serial sexual assault; sexual sadism
Zgourides (2020) already appreciates the existence of a general scarcity of research data on paraphilias, both controlled (in the laboratory for research purposes) and anecdotal (field work), which limits the generalization of this type of sexual behaviour. For that author, little scientific information has been published on alternative sexual behaviours, this being due to differences in cultural understandings, religious and/or legal prohibitions
With the publication of the latest version of the DSM-5 (2014), the distinction is established with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of paraphilias, establishing between so-Very little is known about why a subject develops sexual preferences different from those of the majority, or even why they develop their sexual preferences (Tiffon, 2019).
According to Cáceres (2001), he establishes a series of general theories that could explain the aetiology of paraphilias:
The subject is a 19-year-old serial sexual aggressor and abuser (hypersexual) who, at night, stalked and approached about 4 female victims - older than him (gerontophilia). With the display of his sexual organs in full view of the victims (exhibitionism), the respondent strongly desired to remove their underwear (fetishist) and to be able to reach his sexual climax with the excitatory behaviour of sniffing them (misophilia). On occasions, and not achieving his objective with any of his victims, he proceeded to threaten them by using a knife in order to force them against their will to perform fellatio on public roads (sadism).
The total number of victims that he managed to attack was 4 and all of them were much older than the aggressor: that is, they were either twice the age of the aggressor, or were in their fifties or sixties (gerontophilia).
Two of these four victims decided to file a complaint over the events they suffered, setting the judicial machinery in motion; while the other two victims chose to remain silent, feeling inhibited out of fear.
As stated in the judgment, the following were considered as proven facts:
It has been proven that the subject, early one morning in June and in order to satisfy his libidinous desires, approached the first victim, with his face partially covered by a mask that did not prevent most his facial features being seen, and after threatening her by holding a knife to her side, he forced her to perform fellatio on him, then began touching her ass and asked her to give him her panties. When she was reluctant to do so, he lowered her pants and panties and tried to penetrate her anally, and failing to do so, he inserted his fingers into her vagina while he masturbated, leaving traces of semen on her coat. It is proven that, after these reported acts, the perpetrator, with the intention of illicitly enriching himself, wielded the knife at the victim, demanding that she hand over the money she was carrying, thereby seizing 70 Euros that the victim agreed to give him.
It was proven that around dawn, one day in June, and with the same purpose of satisfying his libidinous desires, the perpetrator approached a second victim, asking her to suck his displayed penis, and when she tried to dodge him, the accused grabbed her arm, and after struggling with her, pushed her against a parked car where she continued to resist and tried to get away from him, who finally, after hearing the noise of the shutters of the nearby houses, fled. It is proven that as a result of the facts described above, the victim suffered two bruises of 3 cm in diameter on the left arm and pain in the left shoulder that required medical attention, taking 5 days to heal.
The perpetrator was diagnosed with a mixed anxiety-depressive adjustment disorder and a sexual inclination disorder with tendencies towards fetishism, scoptophilia and gerontophilia, as well as a mixed-type personality disorder, which together with the consumption of alcohol and marijuana at the time of the commission of the acts in amounts that have not been determined, there was a slight decrease in his intellective and volitional capacities.”
According to the sentence, the perpetrator was convicted as the criminally responsible author:
“…of a consummated crime of sexual assault with carnal access, previously defined, concurring the analogical attenuation of psychic alteration, to the penalty of 12 years in prison with the accessory of absolute disqualification for the time of the sentence, and to the accessory penalty of prohibition of approaching the first victim, her home or workplace, at a distance of less than 1,000 metres, for a period of 17 years. Likewise, the measure of probation is imposed for a period of 5 years;
According to what has been described, the subject's iter criminis and/or modus vivendi presents a multiple disorder of sexual inclination compatible with the following behaviours:
In order to objectify his psychological status, the following objective personality and psychopathology tests were administered: Millon's MCMI-III, Morey's PAI, Cattel's 16PF.
The validity, sincerity and social desirability scales of the tests administered concerning the MCMI-III and the 16PF-5 are within statistical normality and do not present or show any real significance. From this, it follows that the interpretation of the clinical scales of the different evaluation instruments administered can fit, or be compatible with, the genuine basic personality traits of the subject. However, the PAI test yields significant scores on these scales and may be compatible with the fact that the subject may have an interest in offering a more negative self-image.
In the MCMI-III test, the respondent presents clinically significant scores (although at the threshold of significance) concerning the Dependence (PREV=75), Anxiety (PREV=78) and substance use and/or dependence scales. (PREV=79).
The clinical personality patterns of the same MCMI-III test presented subclinical range scores in the scales concerning: Antisocial (PREV= 73), Depressive (PREV= 65), Histrionic (PREV= 64), Aggressive-Sadistic (PREV= 64), Histrionic Self-destructive (PREV= 63) and Histrionic Passive-Aggressive Negativist (PREV= 60).
Although the PAI test would highlight the subscale of antisocial behaviours (score T=78) and that of Hypervigilance (score T=68) in the subscale of Paranoia, it is necessary to point out the responses to certain items that the computer application itself highlights, such as the following: Substance abuse: 334. Never has a problem drinking (answers False). Traumatic stressors: 34. I keep reliving something horrible that happened to me (answers Fairly True); 194. I have had some terrible experiences that make me feel guilty (Completely True answers); 274. I have had a very bad experience that has made me lose interest in some things that I used to enjoy (answers Fairly True). Malingering risk: 329. I think there are 3 or 4 completely different personalities inside of me (answers Completely True).
From the interpretive point of view of the psychological profile obtained from the 16PF-5, the scores concerning the response style suggest reliability, so the rest of the scores obtained are genuine for the personality of the respondent. So the perpetrator is not usually very affable in his personal relationships (score DE=3). The SD=10 score on the “Vigilance” scale is already compared with the “Hypervigilance” (“Paranoid”) subscale obtained in the PAI (T score=68) and the subclinical “Paranoid” score (PREV=60) in the MCMI-III.
According to Cáceres (2001), and regarding the aetiology or cause of paraphilias, the following can be considered (in Tiffon, 2019):
1. On many occasions, its origin is unknown.
2. Many paraphilias are due to social/vicarious learning or to the subject's own experience (for example, in cases of pederasty, gerontophilia...).
3. Due to aggressive experiences in childhood-adolescence (sadistic-masochistic behaviour).
4. Due to the existence of hormonal and/or biological factors that justify the origin of this type of behaviour (being more frequent in the male figure).
In the present case, which has been the object of study and analysis, it is pointed out that the tests administered do not show a psychometric score (with any objective character) for which it could be taken as indicative or that could suggest the existence of a mental disorder or psychopathological alteration that enters the range of a serious nature to annul both cognitive capacity and volitional-motivational capacity. From the exploration, it appears that it is compatible that he had knowledge and a clear motivation at the time of the acts, which means that he was fully attributable to the facts and, therefore, in the Spanish judicial system, legally responsible (Tiffon and González-Fernández, 2021). The volitional-motivational factor becomes pathologically evident given the toxic and obsessive content of addictive thoughts of paraphilic or sexual behaviours, to the point of permeating and harmfully and obsessively attacking the cognitive area of the subject.
Sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual homicide, and the paraphilias associated with each of these have been observed throughout human history (Safarik, 2020). The establishment of the profile of the sexual aggressor is one of the most frequently asked questions in Forensic Psychopathology and, without a doubt, one of the most difficult to answer, although it can be said that there is no specific typology or a specific pathology that conditions or generates this type of criminal behaviour (González-Fernández, 2020).
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