The Criminal and Civil Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia (TSJMU) has upheld the eight-year prison sentence imposed on a man for assaulting another in a bar in the city of Murcia, leaving him practically blind in one eye after hurling insults at him linked to his sexual orientation.
The ruling details that the events took place around 3:30 p.m. on June 19, 2020, in an establishment in the El Carmen neighborhood, in Murcia. At that moment, the convicted man, without there having been any prior argument, began to stare fixedly at the victim while directing at him serious expressions of a homophobic nature.
Faced with that intimidating conduct, the victim moved away toward a corner of the bar. Nevertheless, the defendant again fixed his gaze on him and, suddenly, landed a hard punch to his right eye. As a consequence of the impact, the intraocular lens the victim had had implanted after a previous cataract operation became embedded in the eyeball itself.
The blow caused the assaulted man to fall to the ground, at which moment the attacker continued the beating, kicking him in the ribs and neck area, until three customers of the premises intervened to stop the assault.
As a result of the attack, the victim suffered an ocular trauma with lens subluxation, vitreous hemorrhage and retinal detachment. These injuries made several surgical interventions necessary and have caused the almost total loss of vision in that eye.
The Chamber has entirely rejected the appeal filed by the defense of the convicted man, ruling out the existence of mitigating circumstances due to alcohol consumption or possible undue delays in the handling of the criminal proceedings.
The court thus upholds the reasoning of the Provincial Court to impose the maximum sentence of eight years in prison, considering the facts as "a unilateral and capricious attack against the very identity of the person, of his sexuality, which makes it an even more unjust, cruel and degrading act".
Along with the prison sentence, the ruling maintains the obligation of the convicted man to compensate the victim with 60,707.95 euros for the injuries and sequelae suffered, as well as the payment of 7,106.38 euros to the Murcian Health Service (SMS) in concept of medical and surgical assistance expenses derived from the assault.