It started as a fight in a bar at dawn and ended in an accident that left one person dead and another seriously injured. Two men are accused of killing Mustapha, a 22-year-old young man, and injuring another, Ohtmane, 19, in Benalmádena (Málaga, population 73,160) by using his car to ram the motorcycle on which both victims were traveling and then fled the place. It happened after five a.m. on February 25, 2017, but it wasn't until this Tuesday that both testified before a judge and a popular jury.
“I tried to avoid them,” said the driver of the vehicle, Eloy M., 31, who assures that the idea of hitting the victims to kill them “never in his life” occurred to him and that the collision was the result of an accident. “Their motorcycle disappeared and they ran us over,” said his co-pilot Manuel P., 48 years old.
The public prosecutor's office is demanding a prison sentence of 26 years for each defendant, a sentence that increases to 34.5 years for the crimes of murder with treason and attempted murder due to the private charges – one represents the mother and sister of the deceased and another the father Murder increases treason and against road safety. The defense of the alleged perpetrator of the events because he was the one who drove the car has claimed that his client should be sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison for reckless driving. “The accident was an unfortunate and regrettable accident,” said lawyer Inés Barba. The co-pilot's defense demands that he be completely acquitted and does not even consider him a necessary cooperation partner since, as he explained, it has not been proven that he left his car with his friend in order to kill the other two young people.
The trial began this Monday in the Provincial Court of Malaga in an attempt to bring about rapprochement between the parties. Due, among other things, to the long time that had passed since the events (seven years), the prosecution offered a compliance agreement that provided for eight years in prison for the driver of the vehicle and three and a half years for the passenger. Pilot. However, since the defense did not accept this, the trial continued this Tuesday with the reading of the accounts of events, which include the versions of all parties – the prosecutor, the two private accusations and the defense – and will then be presented a vote for the both defendants.
The origin of the events is an earlier fight in a pub in Plaza Solymar in Benalmadena. The different versions agree that it all started after four in the morning, when one of the defendants, Manuel, began talking to a young woman, Laura, Mustapha's partner, who later died in the accident. The allegations claim the defendant molested her and the defense claims he only talked to her. “I saw two girls and asked them if they wanted something to drink. They said yes and I bought them a drink. Then I just saw one and went to talk to her,” the defendant explained.
According to most versions of events, when Manuel arrived at the scene, he saw the young woman standing next to her boyfriend, who wordlessly beat the now accused. After the ensuing fight, bar staff eventually expelled the attacker and his friends, including the second victim, Ohtmane. The state police later intervened. The agents then recommended that Manuel – who had made the call to 091 – and Eloy leave there. They both walked to their car, a black Renault Laguna. According to the defendants, on the way to their vehicle they were attacked with a large knife by the two victims who had approached them on a motorcycle. They finally managed to get into the car and leave the place.
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What happened in the following minutes was that the versions were significantly more different. The public prosecutor's office and the two private prosecutors assure that one of the defendants, Eloy, who admits to having consumed alcohol and cocaine, went to the avenue where he knew that the moped with his alleged attackers would pass. They then entered the road in the opposite direction of travel and crashed head-on into the vehicle. They ran over the motorcycle and one of its occupants, backwards again, “with the intent to take revenge and take their lives,” according to the prosecution. Eventually they fled at full speed. The driver of the moped, Mustapha, was instantly crushed to death. And his companion Ohtmane was seriously injured, had to undergo several operations, spent a month in a wheelchair and needed more than 400 days to recover, although he suffered several consequences.
However, the defendants claim that everything was the result of an accident. The co-pilot remembers them being scared and panicking about what had just happened to them. He also says that he was bleeding after being hit with the knife and that as they were trying to leave, he saw the moped the victims were riding coming towards them at an intersection. “We wanted to avoid them, but they lost their motorcycle and crashed into us,” explains Manuel P., who explains that they drove in the opposite direction out of nervousness and “a swerve.” “I thought it wasn't that serious. I didn't see the bodies on the ground. “I just thought they were going to get up and chase us,” the driver insisted when asked by the prosecutor.
The process will continue in the coming days with the participation of numerous people. From a taxi driver who witnessed the accident and wrote down the license plate of the Renault Laguna used to commit the incidents, to the National Police officers who responded to the call about the fight in the bar. Also some of its participants, as well as various doctors and specialists who were involved in the investigation of the case.
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