A man has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for shooting another man with a gun. causing serious injury and permanent consequences which made him limp. The sentence, pronounced in first instance by the Provincial Court of Melilla, was confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA), according to the judgment to which Europa Press had access.
The events occurred around 00:15 a.m. on August 5, 2018 on Tadino Street in Martinengo and, according to the court decision, the victim was on the public highway when the now convicted man approached him, who intimidated him by brandishing a large knife. This caused the young man to flee the scene.
A few minutes laterthe accused returned to the same region on board a moped driven by another person and fired two shots from the firearm he was carrying. One of the projectiles hit the victim in the left foot, “causing a fractured wound of approximately 12 centimeters in diameter, with loss of bone substance and soft tissue, in addition to another injury to the right heel due to the insertion of a bullet.”
Following the shooting, the complainant needed medical attention and underwent surgery “for debridement, cleaning and stabilization of the lesion using a Kirschner needle.” Subsequently, he required periodic cures, treatments with antibiotics and painkillers, as well as a long rehabilitation process. The total healing time was 210 days, of which 10 were considered severe damage, with hospitalization, and 200 were considered moderate damage.
Definitive consequences
According to the court order, “the consequences are permanent and include deformity of the left foot with limited mobility of the fingers and ankle, persistent pain during weight bearing, significant loss of muscle mass, paresthesia in the first toe, chronic inflammation and the need to use crutches to move around.” Furthermore, the victim “developed a stress disorder post-traumatic of moderate nature” and presents aesthetic damage “qualified as moderate due to a large scar measuring 13 by 11 centimeters”.
The sentence condemns the accused as perpetrator of a crime punishable by serious threat of six months in prison and an offense of injury to four years in prison, with in both cases the mitigating circumstance of excessive delay, due to the fact that the events occurred seven years ago, in 2018.
The condemned must compensate the victim to the amount of 43,504.54 euros, plus the corresponding legal interest, and will assume payment of the procedural costs. In addition, a specific ban is imposed on him from exercising the right to passive suffrage for the duration of his sentence.
The defense of the accused filed an appeal alleging an error in the evaluation of the evidenceviolation of the presumption of innocence and failure to appreciate the attenuating circumstance of excessive delays. However, the TSJA rejected the appeal, finding that “the doubts raised are unfounded” and supported the evidentiary assessment of the trial court “granting full credibility to the victim’s direct and spontaneous statement during the investigation phase.”
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