The trial for the brutal group beating of Alexandru Ionita has gone off the planned script when Ana Claudia, his mother, has addressed the seven adults tried for this barbarism. “Why did you do this to him?” she asked. The judge has clarified to her lawyer that she could not address the accused, who during their statement have used alcohol to justify the savage beating of a defenseless young man by 15 people, even when he was on the ground, while at the same time they have denied their membership in a gang and have even spoken of this aggression in terms of a “fight.”
The session that was held this Monday inaugurated the second trial for this brutal attack, which occurred in the early hours of July 25, 2021. In the first, seven young people, minors at the time of the events, were sentenced to between 3 and 6 years of confinement, as well as an eighth, with indirect participation in the events, three years of supervised release. However, in that savage attack, recorded and uploaded to social networks, a total of almost twenty young people participated, between 15 and 38 years old, and as of this week, the eight people who were already adults at the time of the incident are being tried. the one in which the events occurred.
This Monday the mother and father of Alexandru Ionita appeared, and so did the accused. Six of them remain in preventive detention and have been escorted by Ertzaintza agents, while the seventh, the oldest (today he is 40 years old), is on probation.
Alexandru Ionita's parents have dedicated a good part of their speech to describing the situation in which the young man finds himself, bedridden despite the small progress he has made in the rehabilitation process he has been attending for two years. and a half.
Eugen Ionita, his father, has indicated that “he needs help for everything” and his mother has stated that she is entirely dedicated to helping the young man. “There is no longer life for my son or me,” she said. Ionita's parents have also indicated that they have little hope that the young man will recover, unless a "divine miracle" occurs.
The family's lawyer, Mariana Tulbure, pointed out at the end of the trial that the family “is suffering a lot” as a result of the trial, and has also pointed out that Alexandru himself is more nervous these days. The family has requested permanent reviewable prison for each of the seven accused adults, due to the severity of the injuries, the way in which they acted, the fact that they recorded the events and for their alleged membership in the Los Hermanos Koala gang. The Prosecutor's Office, meanwhile, requests penalties for the crime of attempted homicide, for which it requests 14 years and eight months in prison for each of them.
In this first session, the seven accused of the brutal attack also commiserated. From the first moment it has been clear that, as expected, their testimonies are highly conditioned by what is seen and not seen in the video they recorded and that one of them uploaded to social networks.
The first of the accused to appear has strictly acknowledged what is seen in the video: the first blow he inflicted on the young man and also how he stole his cell phone when he was on the ground, unconscious and dying.
In a story full of inconsistencies, cold and indolent, he used the excuse, like the rest of the accused, that they had drunk and were in a state of intoxication. Regarding his membership in the Los Hermanos Koala band, he has acknowledged that he belonged to this group, although he has linked it to a past period and has indicated that it was “a WhatsApp group that met to play soccer and go out.”
The young man has also denied that he heard cries of “kill him, kill him!” as heard in the video, although he has added the detail that while he was on the ground they kicked him “two more kicks” that do not appear in the recording that they uploaded to social networks.
In the case of the oldest of the accused, 40 years old (two years younger at the time of the events), he has denied his participation in the brutal beating, citing the fact that he does not appear in the video.
The young Alexandru Ionita was brutally attacked during the night of July 24 to 25, when he was with a friend in the Jauregibarria park in Amorebieta.
According to the police investigations, to which La Vanguardia had access at the time, the events took place around three in the morning on that July day, when around twenty individuals between the ages of 15 and 38, at the time of the events , approached young Alexandru, taking advantage of the fact that he was alone because his friend Jamal had been temporarily absent.
One of the detainees, Christopher Antón R. T., 23, was the one who allegedly led the attack at first. He rebuked him and pushed him repeatedly. Later, a young man who was barely 15 years old at the time of the attack hit him on the head with a glass bottle and, from there, the brutal attack was unleashed.
Several of the detainees, some minors at the time, attacked young Alexandru. Another of the detainees, Kevin F. A., 18, allegedly hit him repeatedly on the head with a glass bottle and Andoni Alfredo C. M., 19, was apparently the one who hit Alexandru with an iron bar.
The brutal beating did not stop when he was on the ground; In fact, the attackers took advantage of the fact that he was unconscious to search his pockets in order to rob him. One of the accused admitted this Monday, in the first session of the trial, that he stole his cell phone. Later, another of those investigated, presumably Christopher Antón, uploaded the recording of the brutal attack to social networks, accompanied by the message "don't blame me: I was fart."
The Ertzaintza links the young attackers with the Los Hermanos Koala gang, which in recent years has committed violent crimes in several towns in Greater Bilbao.
This gang has its headquarters in a market on Granados Street in Barakaldo, and has earned a sad reputation, according to the police investigation, putting into practice a modus operandi characterized by its numerical superiority, the use of weapons and dangerous objects, and the feeling of impunity. This gang is based on a certain hierarchy that places two of the oldest, aged 26 and 38 at the time of the events, as leaders and “references” over the rest of the young people, especially those between 15 and 18. years, according to the police investigation.
During the night in which they left Alexandru Ionita on the verge of death, they were involved in numerous incidents, already from the train that brought them from Bilbao to the town of Amorebieta, which in a normal situation would have celebrated its patron saint festivities.
Some sources indicate that The Koala Brothers had met in Amorebieta to fight with another gang of a similar nature, although the members of the latter, from another town near Bilbao, did not show up and these individuals dedicated themselves to generating disturbances in this area. municipality, where, in fact, one of the men investigated by the Ertzaintza resides.
Once in this town of 19,000 inhabitants, located 20 kilometers from Bilbao, they made themselves noticed in the bar area located on Luis Urrengoetxea street. After the closing of the premises, at one in the morning, they went to Jauregibarria park.
The first possible crime of which there is evidence occurred at 1:30 a.m. Those now detained approached a large group of 16-year-old boys and girls. First they asked one euro for a euro, who refused and was hit; Afterwards, they insulted the girls in the group. One of his friends came to his defense and received some blows, although he managed to escape. They also threw a bottle at him which he dodged.
The next victim was Alexandru Ionita, although after his brutal attack they continued to commit crimes.
Later, they approached a 20-year-old young man who was sitting on a bench. He managed to defend himself from the blows, although his cell phone was stolen.
The fourth possible crime they incurred while they were in Jauregibarria took place just a few minutes later. The alleged attackers once again cornered three young people in the park. They asked them for money, beat them and stole another cell phone, taking advantage of their overwhelming superiority. While they were escaping, according to the report, they yelled at them: “Sons of bitches, faggots…”. After traveling about 50 meters, the young people who were escaping found Alexandru Ionita lying on the ground.
At the same time, the friend who was with Ionita that day, Jamal, crossed paths with the person who would raise the alarm. This is Jon Zugazua, a 47-year-old man, with whom La Vanguardia can speak.
"It was three in the morning. She had had dinner and was going home. While in the parking lot, the guy who was with Alexandru that night came and told me that his friend was dying. I approached and saw that he was unconscious, he did not react. At 112, the doctor gave me instructions on what I had to do, until the ambulance, the Ertzaintza and the municipal police arrived in a short time. In the following days they called me to testify and I saw on TV the extent of what had happened,” he explains.
