Jávea cyclist tragedy trial set to start

THREE- AND- A- HALF years on from the tragedy that rocked Oliva and Jávea, the case of a driver who allegedly ploughed through a triathlon team is set to come to court.

In a fortnight’s time, Gandia resident Mavi Sánchez, who was 28 on that fateful morning, will face trial in connection with three deaths and two cases of serious injury.

Edu Monfort, 28, whose father Eduard had been Jávea's mayor until May 2011, and Venezuelan expat Luis Contreras, 53, were killed outright when a car veered across the N- 332 just south of Oliva on May 7, 2017.

José Antonio Albi, 28, died four days later in hospital, having never regained consciousness.

Luis’ son Andrés, 28, and Briton Scott Gordon suffered such severe multiple fractures that they are still being treated.

Scott has been operated on several times by ‘ super surgeon’, Dr Pedro Cavadas,

from Manises – who has transplanted entire limbs successfully – but his broken femur refuses to set, and he is not expecting to ever return to his pre- crash job on an oil rig.

Only the leader of the Jávea- based triathlon team, Jaime Escortell, got away unscathed, after hurling himself over the crash barrier into a ditch below. The defendant was arrested at the scene, and found to be nearly five times over the alcohol limit – and she had taken cocaine.

Formerly a waitress at an ice- cream parlour in Ondara’s El Portal de la Marina shopping centre, she was remanded in custody, where she remained for a year before being granted bail.

The tragedy brought about changes in road traffic laws concerning cyclists, with a new requirement for drivers to maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 metres when passing people on bikes.