FAMILY REMAIN UNHAPPY WITH SPANISH RULING
THE family of a rugby player killed in Spain after attending a funeral have criticised the investigation into his death.
Father-of-three Eifion Gwynne died after being hit by a car in Malaga on October 22 last year. But questions remain over how the 41-year-old ended up on a busy carriageway at 6am when a friend had seen him take a taxi back to his hotel.
An inquest into Mr Gwynne’s home town of Aberystwyth yesterday heared how a group of friends had attended the funeral.
One of the group, David Thomas, had known Mr Gwynne, who played rugby for Aberystwyth and Llandovery, for more than 30 years.
A witness statement from Mr Thomas read at the hearing explained how the pair had got into a taxi following the funeral to a bar on the seafront along with other members of the group. As the night progressed other friends left leaving just the two of them.
They visited various bars and left at 5am, when Mr Thomas gave Mr Gwynne 20 euro for his taxi back to his hotel. At that point, Mr Thomas described his friend as “drunk but coherent”.
Mr Thomas had got into a separate taxi as he needed to travel to Malaga Airport to return home.
Translated reports from Spanish police were then read out at the inquest. They stated how a pedestrian, Mr Gwynne, had been hit by a Fiat Punto driven by Laura Valadez Garcia on a carriageway in the city.
Ms Garcia was breathalysed but the tests returned negative, and she was said to have been driving at just over 49mph.
Mr Gwynne was taken to Costa Del Sol hospital but died after efforts were made for some hours to save him, with the cause of death given as a number of serious injuries to the upper chest area.
Speculating what could have happened to Mr Gwynne, coroner Peter Brunton said: “Maybe the taxi driver mistook the hotel address and took him to a wrong location. That could be an explanation how he found himself on this side of the road.
“Evidence is slim – it’s a shame Spanish police did not take evidence from the bar manager, his friends, and the taxi driver.
“Based on the evidence we have I believe on the balance of probability it was a death by misadventure.
Mr Gwynne’s brother, Dewi Gwynne, and mother Anne Gwynne said following the hearing: “We didn’t learn anything new and are disappointed there was no more information from the Spanish authorities.”