A magistrate has finally acquitted the retiree from Mallorca who killed one of the thieves who entered his home to steal. The judge amends the previous decision of a jury, which found Pau Rigo guilty with an insufficient majority. Given the doubts that were raised during the trial, the judge opted for acquittal in a sentence that did not require a repeat trial,
On the other hand, the sentence that was announced this Friday condemns the other three attackers of the home to prison sentences ranging from two to four years. All of them must compensate the accused with 15,000 euros, the amount they stole during the robbery at the retiree's home. One of the convicted men is the brother of the fourth assailant, whom Rigo shot during the attempted robbery, which caused his death.
The previous decision made by the jury, by five votes in favor or four against, is that the man acted with impaired mental faculties when shooting his attacker. This ruling implied a conviction, but for this at least seven votes were needed and not five. For this reason, the magistrate considers that the jury did not resolve the doubts about whether the man should be acquitted or with a reduced sentence because he acted with disturbed mental faculties. "All these doubts, not cleared up, lead me to the application of the in dubio pro reo principle," the ruling states.
The assault on the retiree's home, a house in the municipality of Porreres, occurred in 2018. The man was detained by the assailants when he was leaving his home and they forced him to open the safe, which contained 15,000 euros. . However, the thieves considered it to be little money and beat Rigo to get him to give them more. At one point, the man managed to get away and took a gun that he had at home and that was loaded.
He shot one of the assailants from a distance of one and a half meters and the man died. Another of the robbers started a struggle with the retiree and managed to snatch his weapon. The three left the home and carried the injured man to a hospital in Mallorca, where he died after hemorrhagic shock.
Shortly after, all of them were arrested, but the man went to trial to determine if he acted in self-defense or with his mental faculties altered by the situation or if he should be acquitted, as was the case in this case.
