A man has been sentenced to 43 years in prison for the murder of two of his neighbors, an octogenarian woman and her disabled son, which occurred in Orihuela on June 6, 2022. The judge who signed the sentence highlights the banality of the motive that triggered the terrible fact (an alleged debt of fifty euros), the disability of one of the victims and the advanced age of the other, as well as the absence of any trace of regret in the accused.
The events occurred at midnight, when the accused approached his neighbors' home and argued with them because they owed him money for placing a bar on a window. Once the argument was over, he went to his house, located on the same street, and returned about twenty minutes later with his hands covered by plastic gloves and armed with a hammer-type mace.
The Eleventh Section of the Provincial Court of Alicante, with headquarters located in Elche, has handed down the sentence, in accordance with the verdict of the popular jury, and has sentenced the accused - of Uruguayan nationality and with no criminal record - to two sentences of 20 and 23 years in prison, the first for the murder of the man and the second for that of his mother. However, in accordance with the provisions of article 76.1 c of the Penal Code, the maximum effective completion of the sentence will be 40 years.
The prisoner took advantage of the fact that the door of his neighbors' house was open, on a very hot night, to enter and go to the kitchen, where, unexpectedly and without giving him a chance to defend himself, he dealt several blows to the head with the mace. to one of the victims, a 50-year-old man, disabled since he suffered a work accident as a young man. The blows caused his death a few minutes later, according to the sentence.
Next, the prisoner went to the living room, where the mother of his first victim, 80 years old, was sitting in an armchair. To prevent her from giving him away, he repeatedly hit her with the mace to end her life. The elderly woman survived the attack, but she died the following month in the Hospital due to the injuries she suffered.
The judge who handed down the sentence has imposed a prohibition on approaching closer than 300 meters and communication for a period greater than ten years to the prison sentences with respect to a son and brother, respectively, of those murdered, who must be compensated with 130,000 euros in total for the death of their relatives.
Although the accused declared that he had consumed alcohol and drugs on the day of the crime, testimonies from neighbors, co-workers and the police officers who took his statement shortly after the events dismantled that allegation.
The agents were the ones who carried out the search and explained to the court that they had found several items of clothing in the laundry room and inside the defendant's washing machine, which was on final program, and in the garage they found a white plastic bag. containing another bag stained with fresh blood that contained two black gloves and two transparent plastic gloves stained with blood. Under the sink in the same laundry room there was a closet where a hammer-type mallet was located.
