The popular jury has found the two accused guilty of running over two young people by ramming their car into the motorcycle on which the victims were traveling. It has done so unanimously, following a trial held in the Provincial Court of Malaga that lasted two weeks, in which numerous witnesses, police officers and experts were heard. In conclusion, according to the verdict, they are considered perpetrators of one crime of completed murder and another attempted murder. They were committed in 2017 in Benalmádena (Málaga, 73,160 inhabitants), following agreeing to “seek revenge” following participating in a fight. Minutes following the altercation, they got into a car and twice ran over the motorcycle carrying the young man they had argued with and a friend. One of them died instantly and another was seriously injured.
The Prosecutor’s Office has requested 26 years in prison for each culprit, both for Eloy M., 31 years old, as the material author of the events because he was driving the car that was used in the accident, and for Manuel P., 48 years old, who was traveling as co-pilot and acted as a necessary collaborator, according to the jury. The two private accusations, for their part, have requested 28 years in prison for each one, as well as compensation for the mother, father, sister and son of the deceased, Mustapha Jelasi, who was 22 years old at the time. “And, as a precautionary measure, we have requested a ban on communication between both of them with the family,” as José Lorenzo, lawyer for Jelasi’s mother, explained.
The jury has taken into account, however, two mitigating factors for the sentence imposed by the judge in the case. The first, undue delay, since the events occurred seven years ago. The second, which only affects the material author, that of confession, since Mesa voluntarily went to the National Police to declare that he was driving the car. Of course, in their statements before the court, the two assured that what had happened was an accident. “I tried to avoid them,” Eloy M. said during the trial. “Their motorcycle went away and they hit us,” added Manuel P. Legal sources report that the contradictions in their stories and the differences with what was stated by the police agents and specialists have been key to the final verdict. Both rejected a plea agreement proposed by prosecutors two weeks ago.
Now, the popular jury has considered it proven that one of the accused, Manuel P. – with a history of drug trafficking – got into an argument with Mustapha Jelasi – who would later be murdered – in a bar in Benalmádena around five thirty in the early hours of February 25, 2017. The story states that later, following police mediation, Manuel went with his friend Eloy M. to pick up the Renault Laguna that they had parked near the establishment and that they did so “by agreement.” in searching for the aggressor and seeking revenge,” according to the verdict.
A few minutes later, when they were traveling along Avenida de Mijas and saw Mustapha on a moped, in which his friend Ohtmane was also traveling as the pilot, they entered in a prohibited direction “running over the vehicle at high speed,” so that they did not have any “ time or space” to avoid the impact. After passing over them, the driver of the car reversed to hit them a second time. As a result, Jelasi died and his friend Ohtmane was seriously injured (and needed 423 days of recovery, as reported by the prosecutor in the case, Rosa María Romero). Then both fled “without notifying anyone of what happened” and “giving vague explanations regarding the events” when the authorities called them hours later.
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