CAM widow murder trial continues in Alicante
THE TRIAL of Miguel López – who is accused of killing his millionaire mother-in-law, María del Carmen Martínez – has entered its fourth week in Alicante.
Sra Martínez was the widow of former president of the now-defunt CAM savings bank, Vicente Sala.
She was shot twice in the head on December 9, 2016 in her vehicle at the carwash in the Novocar garage and salesroom in Alicante city, which was run by Sr López and formed part of the portfolio of family businesses.
Sr López told the jury last month that he would exercise his right not to make any declaration to the court.
His barrister noted that his client was in a ‘fragile state of mind’.
However, he has denied killing his mother-in-law.
This week the court heard that the pistol used to shoot Sra Martínez was a model which dated back to the beginning of the 20th century.
The jury was told that because it was more than 100 years old ‘there is hardly any ammunition left on the market’ for this weapon.
A National Police ballistics expert explained from Madrid via video that the bullets used in the assassination had been ‘cut’ from 23 millimetres to 20mm to fit the pistol. He noted that the weapon had probably been a FN 1903 or a Webley and Scott revolver.
The court heard that five guns had been found by police in the accused’s home but none of them could have fired the two bullets which killed Sra Martínez.
The prosecution service is calling for a 24-year jail sentence for Sr López for murder and possession of an illegal weapon. Setting out the case last month, the prosecutor said his office was ‘convinced’ that the accused carried out this ‘horrible’ crime.
“This was not a robbery, it was an assassination,” he told the court.
He stated that there had been a war inside the family and Sra Martínez and Sr Sala were pitted against each other. The court heard that the police believed that the motive for the killing had been ‘to control the family businesses’, in particular Samar Internacional SL which operates in the plastics sector and made an annual profit of €240 million in 2016.
According to the prosecutor, Sr López killed his mother-in-law to prevent her signing over shares in this company to her eldest son, which would have given him ‘the power to take all the decisions’.
The defence told the court that there was no proof against the accused.
According to the defence, Sr López was not at the scene of the crime and there was no DNA evidence to link him to the shooting.
The trial continues.