The trial against P.L.B., prosecuted for the death of his partner, A.C.G., and for the fire at the home where both lived in Albacete in December 2022, has held its third session at the Provincial Court of Albacete.
On this day, several National Police officers who took part in the investigation testified and, thanks to security cameras near the property and the evidence gathered in the house, they managed to reconstruct the sequence of events.
After the fire was quickly put out, facilitated by the proximity of the Fire Department park, the investigators detected from the beginning clear signs that the fire was not accidental, since no focal point compatible with an spontaneous origin was found.
As the officers have explained, once it was verified that the fire had been intentional, the inquiries focused on identifying the possible responsible parties, and the accused became the main suspect already in the early hours of Saturday, November 10, based on the statements of a neighbor who placed him at the scene.
Among the testimonies, the one given by the National Police officer who carried out the arrest of P.L.B. stood out. He has said that, at the moment of arresting him, "he did not react to such a serious incident," an attitude that surprised the officials.
Other police officers who took part in the arrest operation have indicated that the accused showed visible injuries on his face, consistent with scratches.
The officers tasked with carrying out the on-site inspection of the home in the following days also appeared in court, who reiterated that from the first analysis, an accidental cause of the fire was ruled out.
The discovery of a bottle of alcohol inside the home allowed the investigators to raise the hypothesis of a fire deliberately caused. This line was later reinforced by the forensic reports from the autopsy, which describe linear burns on the body of the victim, consistent with having been sprayed with an accelerant such as alcohol.
Despite the fact that the smoke and flames degraded much of the evidence and it was not possible to recover useful fingerprints, the officers managed to link the accused to the scene of the crime through DNA remnants found on a cigarette butt found in the house.
In the session, new testimonies have also been incorporated that help to outline the movements of the vehicle owned by the victim, which would have been allegedly driven by the defendant, between 10:54 p.m. and 3:27 a.m.
Start of the forensic tests
Once the round of police witnesses has concluded, it is expected that this Friday the phase of statements from forensic experts will begin, which will, in principle, last until next November 13.
After the conclusion of the oral hearing, a lay jury made up of 7 women and 2 men must rule on the guilt or innocence of the defendant for the crimes of murder with treachery and arson with intent.
For these acts, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the popular prosecution jointly request 40 years of imprisonment, while the private prosecution raises the request to 45 years in prison.