Homeless men convicted of homicide

THE PROVINCIAL court has sentenced two homeless men to prison for the homicide of another vagrant man who they beat to death in Torrevieja in an argument over a container of water they used for personal hygiene.

The incident took place on May 26, 2011, in the basement of an unfinished building at the corner of Avenida Purísima and Calle La Sal, where all three of them had been living, reported the Regional Supreme Court ( TSJCV).

The convicted men are both Ukrainians. One of them, identified in the sentence as Sergio, aged 46 , has been given five years in prison and the other, Rogelio ( 52) two and a half, after the court took into account their drunkenness and the undue length of time it had taken for the case to be tried.

They were also ordered to pay € 10,000 between them to whoever can prove they are a first- degree relative or spouse of the deceased, 48- year- old Anreij, as the court was not aware of any.

A jury was not required for the trial as the defendants’ lawyers accepted the public prosecutor’s version of the events and proposed punishments for each of them.

According to the court ruling, the argument started at about 17.00 and Sergio punched the victim several times in the face, knocking him over.

Once Andreij was on the floor, he took advantage and deliberately tried to kill him with a hard kick in the face, then Rogelio, also knowing it would be fatal, dealt him a fierce blow to the chest. One of them checked the victim was dead and took the body to a nearby bench.

Forensics found that he had died between 01.00 and 03.00 from a subdural hematoma caused by a head trauma.

The ruling noted that the defendants had been affected by a significant amount of alcohol. Rogelio's sentence was suspended for three years on the condition that he does not reoffend and can prove that he has either stopped drinking alcohol or is undergoingtreatment for his addiction.

Sergio was allowed to substitute what remains of his sentence, after the time he has spent on remand, for being expelled from the country for 10 years.