The Madrid Provincial Court sentenced three men to three to six years in prison for the kidnapping, assaults, threats and thefts committed against a young man who won a large lottery prize in January 2024.
According to the judgment, the defendants were found guilty of illegal detention, robbery with violence, wounding and threats, in addition to imposing restraining orders of up to four years and the joint payment of more than 50,000 euros in compensation to the victims.
The court considered it proven that the convicts planned the events after knowing that the victim had received a large sum of money. The three knew the winner personally and hatched a plan to seize his capital and property, which included kidnapping the young man and his entourage.
The events occurred between January 12 and 13, 2024. In the first phase, the defendants went to the home of an acquaintance of the winner, where they beat and threatened a man with an air gun to force him to collaborate. Afterwards, they held him for hours in a vehicle, while monitoring the winner’s home.
When the winner went out into the street, he was beaten and forced to return home, where one of his friends was also arrested. Inside the house, the defendants attacked him several times, using a frying pan and the butt of a gun, covered his head with a towel and placed a knife to the back of his neck to force him to provide passwords to his bank accounts.
Using the bank details, the attackers forced the winner’s companion to make a transfer of 24,800 euros to his own account, money which he then had to withdraw in cash. Although the bank branch was closed, they managed to withdraw 1,200 euros from an ATM before the card was blocked.
In addition, the convicts searched the house and stole clothes, perfumes, electronic devices and other valuables.
Extreme threats and violence
In the afternoon, the winner’s partner went to the home after suspecting a WhatsApp message sent under duress. The defendants pointed guns at her, took her personal information and threatened to kill her family if she alerted the police.
A few hours later, police went to the house, where they arrested two of those involved and recovered some of the stolen money. The third accused initially managed to escape, but was located and arrested a few days later.
The sentence highlights the extreme violence, planning and seriousness of the events, as well as the situation of terror and vulnerability to which the victims were subjected.
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