The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has ratified the sentence of nine years in prison and the payment of 116,000 euros imposed on a man who doused his neighbor with gasoline and set fire to him in Tejina, La Laguna (Tenerife).
Both the Provincial Court and the TSJC agree that all the assumptions are met to conclude that it was an attempted murder and that there was a clear intention to harm the victim, who suffered significant physical and moral damage and consequences.
The defendant’s defense unsuccessfully argued before the TSJC that there is no evidence or witness that his client was the author of the events, much less that he acted with treachery and cruelty.
It also focused on the contradictions that the injured party would have incurred between what he stated at trial and during the investigation, which for the TSJC are nothing more than “specific gaps.”
The intention to murder the victim would be demonstrated, according to the TSJC, by the fact that fire was applied to his body, which posed a risk to life and physical integrity.
“That is, it has been proven that the accused proceeded to burn the space where the man was as well as his own person, aware of the danger that said action could cause to the life or physical integrity of the attacked person and his property,” points out the Canarian high court.
An accident, origin of the events
The events took place in February 2022 when the complainant ran over the convicted person, who was on a motorcycle, and at that time fled the scene without treating him, which the Court interpreted as an explanation of what happened, but not a justification.
From that moment on, the defendant insisted that his neighbor had to take responsibility for his traffic accident, but he did not succeed.
“In fact, not only did she leave the place and did not pick him up at his house to take him to the health center as he had requested, but when he showed up at his home to again demand that he take the blame and give him the insurance of the vehicle, the complainant remained in his refusal,” the sentence states.
At that moment, the accused told him that he would fix it, “an expression indicative that he was going to take justice into his own hands,” just as it happened.
Shortly after, he showed up at the victim’s house, which is close to his, and taking advantage of the fact that his back was turned, he sprayed him with gasoline.
When he felt liquid falling on him and noticed the smell of fuel, the man turned around and claims that he saw the accused there, who immediately set him on fire with a lighter, which was later found burned in his possession.
The victim suffered first and second degree burns on 28% of his body that took three months to heal and he even had to undergo surgery.
A courtesy vehicle owned by a company that was in the surrounding area was burned but the damages were not claimed by its rightful owner.
