The man accused of causing the death of his romantic partner in the Camposol de Mazarrón development (Murcia) in December 2022 has rejected this Friday before the jury court having beaten her to the point of ending her life, claiming that the amputations and his serious mobility problems made it impossible for him to carry out an aggression of that kind.
The defendant, who has only agreed to answer the questions posed by his lawyer, has denied the version of the Public Prosecutor's Office —which maintained that he had attacked the woman with kicks and punches— and has explained that for years he has suffered from Buerguer's disease, which has caused him a progressive loss of limbs and severe physical limitations.
The defense has emphasized that on the day of the events the accused presented an advanced case of gangrene in one foot. "You have to be on one side to hit and I fall and I can't," the defendant, of British nationality, has declared, to reinforce his thesis that he could not carry out the aggressive mechanics described by the Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution brought by the sister of the deceased.
In the last session of the trial, the accused has stated that that night he found his partner lying on the ground and unconscious. According to his account, they had both returned by car to the house after doing some shopping and stopping by two bars where they consumed alcohol. The woman would have gotten out of the vehicle first to collect the dogs in the back of the house, while he remained inside arranging the shopping bags in the back seats.
He has recounted that, after waiting a few minutes and checking that the house still had no lights on, he decided to back the car up to illuminate the entrance with the headlights. Upon getting out of the vehicle, he located his partner lying in front of the car and, "as quickly" as he could, approached to try to "wake her up." Subsequently, always according to his version, he asked the neighbors for help.
The Public Prosecutor's Office has ratified its final conclusions and classifies the facts as a consummated crime of homicide in its modality of murder with treachery and cruelty. It is requesting a sentence of 25 years in prison for the accused, considering the aggravating circumstances of kinship and commission of the crime because of gender to have been proven.
In her final report, the prosecutor has ruled out that it was a hit-and-run or a fortuitous fall and maintains that the defendant dealt the victim a beating of great violence, taking advantage of his physical superiority and the woman’s state of helplessness due to alcohol consumption.
The defense lawyer has modified her initial conclusions: she has stopped asking for full acquittal and has instead subsidiarily proposed that the facts be classified as negligent homicide, with a requested sentence of one year in prison. In addition, she requests that the mitigating factors of drunkenness, highly qualified undue delays, and the partial mitigating factor of reparation of the damage be taken into account, after 50% of the civil liability, set at 11,000 euros, having been deposited with the court.
In her plea, the defense has insisted that there is no direct biological evidence linking the accused to an assault and has reiterated that the sequelae and amputations derived from Buerger's disease would materially prevent him from carrying out the blows described by the prosecution.
The private prosecution, exercised by the lawyer for the victim's sister, has joined the Prosecutor's Office's classification and also seeks 25 years in prison for a completed offense of homicide in the modality of murder with treachery and cruelty, with the aggravating circumstances of kinship and gender, although it raises the requested compensation to 200,000 euros.
In its final report, the representation of the sister has described the alleged accidental hit-and-run as "implausible," highlighting the contradictions in the defendant's different versions, his impassive attitude, the insults directed at the corpse, and the absence of biological remains or blood in a vehicle that, as it has emphasized, was "immaculate".
Likewise, it has stressed that the rib fractures, the breaking of the sternum and the pressure marks on the lips and hands of the deceased are compatible with a violent assault through blows and physical compression, and not with a casual fall.