The criminal chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has confirmed the sentence of 14 years in prison to which the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife had sentenced a man from Tenerife for manufacturing an explosive that caused injuries to three family members. .
The Prosecutor’s Office initially requested 33 years in prison, maintaining that it was an attempted murder, but later reduced it to aggravated injuries.
The sentence, to which EFE has had access, ratifies five years for the manufacture, possession and transportation of the device, and three more for each of the other injuries caused to the victims, who were their relatives, and from whom they must maintain away half a kilometer for five years after being released.
The convicted person, Roberto AGG, is also ordered to pay 10,500 euros to compensate for the consequences suffered by the injured, and to cover the medical expenses they had to face.
The defense alleged before the TSJC that the chain of custody had been broken and that the agreement for the defendant to testify at the end of the trial had not been respected, so that by doing so on the first day he was unaware of many aspects of the summary.
The TSJC responds that the regulations do not establish any specific time to question the accused and, rather, it depends on him and his defense when he does so, to also point out that in any case the turn of the last word implies the possibility of defend yourself before finishing the hearing.
The appellant stated that the required requirements were not met in the collection, review and analysis of the evidence, which would be more serious when manipulable elements such as computer elements were involved, which is why they challenged all the recordings.
In particular, those made by a video camera located outside a hotel in Puerto de La Cruz were questioned, to which the TSJC replies that this complaint requires something more than a mere allegation, especially when suspicions point to a possible change or modification of the object. analyzed.
The man was arrested at the end of 2020, after his home, car and place of work were searched, and since then he has been in provisional detention.
The sentence indicates that the defendant took advantage of the fact that he was a locksmith and welder in a workshop in San Miguel de Abona to make, in a “clandestine” way and thanks to his professional knowledge, a handmade explosive device with materials from the company and others. obtained by him.
Once it was manufactured, around 7:00 a.m. on Friday, November 20, he hid it in the trunk of his car and traveled to Puerto de la Cruz, where he stayed with his then romantic partner.
In the early hours of November 22, he left the hotel and drove around with the vehicle carrying the device. He went to his relatives’ home in La Matanza de Acentejo and deposited it in a white bag near the garage.
At 11 a.m. a member of his family noticed the existence of the box and notified his brother, who was with his father, and together they went to the place out of curiosity.
As soon as one of them broke the padlock and lifted the top cover, the device was activated, but the explosion did not occur, but rather a deflagration, so the damage was minor.
Specifically, second-degree burns were caused, which in some cases took up to 48 days to heal and the scars of which still remain, while another of the injured suffers from anxiety, for which he has been treated with anxiolytics and mild post-traumatic stress.
The family members stated that, after suffering a traffic accident, the accused became obsessed with the fact that his wife was unfaithful to him with a cousin, whom he threatened over the phone.
His wife filed a complaint for abuse that resulted in a conviction and violent episodes were also recorded in the workplace, according to his colleagues.
The Court and the TSJC consider that there is no definitive proof of his guilt but rather a series of indications that, together, point in this direction, such as the graphological study of a word written on the artifact, or DNA tests, although being family members the results are not so conclusive.
The tracking of his cell phone in the hours before the device was discovered was also taken into account, and that he carried out several searches on the Internet about how to make homemade bombs.
In both rulings, it is ruled out that there was a homicidal spirit on the part of the accused, as defended by the Prosecutor’s Office, because there are doubts that the ultimate goal was to kill his relatives and there was no risk of ending their lives, given that the device did not explode. .
