Redaccion
La family of Elisa Abruñedo, the neighbor from Lavandeira, in Cabanas (A Coruña), who was murdered and raped in September 2013 while taking a walk around her house, trusts in a condemnatory sentence for the accused, detained ten years later.
In statements to the media, at the entrance of the Court of A Coruña where the trial will take place this week, with a Jury Trial, one of the lawyers of the private prosecution — who requests 37 years of imprisonment on behalf of one of the victim’s two children — has stated that the arrest was a «relief» for the family.
«There is a certain nervousness, it is reliving everything a little bit,» he concluded about the emotional state of the family members. He also mentioned that they expect a condemnatory sentence and are waiting to see what the accused will say in his statement, scheduled for this Monday.
«We suspect he will exhibit that selective memory he has,» he assured about what the defendant presented during the instruction phase, where he mentioned that he remembered some things and «ignored» others.
For a crime of sexual assault and another of murder, the Public Prosecutor’s Office requests sentences totaling 32 years. Since October 2023, the accused has been in prison, where he was transferred after being arrested by the Civil Guard at his own workplace, in the Navantia Ferrol shipyard, where he was a worker for an auxiliary company. After the arrest, he confessed to being responsible for the rape and death of the neighbor from the Eume region ten years ago.
According to the indictment, between 8:45 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on September 1, 2013, the man was driving his vehicle when he saw the victim walking along the provincial road DP-1503, near her home.
ASSAULT
Immediately, he drove to a dirt road in the area, stopped his car, and approached the woman «attacking her from behind, grabbing her tightly with one arm, and hitting her in the face, in the jaw area.»
Next, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the accused entered the land next to the road «where there were pine trees and abundant undergrowth,» dragging the victim backwards while holding her firmly with her back to him, «covering approximately 17 meters until inside the plot, where he could not be seen from the road.»
He then raped her in this place and immediately afterwards, the accused «suddenly took a knife or blade from his pants pocket and stabbed her, giving her two stabs in the torso and one in the neck,» after which he fled through the woods to reach his vehicle, in which he left the area, causing the woman’s immediate death.
Therefore, the Prosecutor’s Office requests a 12-year prison sentence for the crime of sexual assault, to which another 20 for murder must be added, also demanding that the two children of the deceased woman be compensated with 200,000 euros, 100,000 for each of them.
TRIAL SESSIONS
With sessions starting at 10:00 a.m., this Monday will be dedicated to the constitution of the jury and the reading of reports and preliminary issues, with the accused’s interrogation scheduled for that day.
On June 17, the testimonies will begin, with the deceased’s children, neighbors who discovered the body, and the person who was traveling on a local road, the treasurer of the Society of Hunting or Castro, and two more neighbors. Two Civil Guard officers from Fene will also testify.
On the 18th, there will be six agents from the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard of A Coruña, including those who intervened in the initial proceedings. There will also be a testimonial-expert from three Civil Guard agents from Ferrol who conducted the inspection and the body’s removal, as well as three specialists from the criminalistics laboratory.
On the 19th, there will be the forensic doctor’s expert opinion responsible for the autopsy report, specialists from the Biology department of the Criminalistics Service of the Civil Guard, and the Section of Criminal Behavior Analysis, as well as the expert opinion on the mental state/imputability of the accused and a psychological report from one of the victim’s children.
For the 20th, the final reports have been scheduled, with the possibility for the process to have the final word, while the verdict will be delivered on June 25.
