Jury finds British man guilty of manslaughter in Camposol case
A court in Murcia has ruled out that a 72-year-old British citizen murdered his wife in 2022. The jury found it established that he hit her accidentally with his vehicle.
Manslaughter verdict in Mazarrón
The jury has found the 72-year-old British citizen accused of the death of his 56-year-old wife in the Camposol urbanisation in Mazarrón (Murcia) guilty of manslaughter, according to Libertad Digital. The nine tribunal members unanimously ruled out that it was murder; seven voted in favour of manslaughter and two opposed.
The incident occurred on 4 December 2022 when the couple was returning home. While the husband was collecting shopping bags from the rear seat, his wife got out of the vehicle to take the dogs to the house. The woman fell behind the car and lay on the ground, perpendicular to the vehicle with her head next to the kerb.
Unaware of her presence, the accused started the engine and reversed several metres to check whether the house lights had come on. During the manoeuvre, the wheels passed over her body, trapping her under the chassis. The jury considered that the injuries—fractures to ribs, sternum, limbs and lung impacts—were consistent with being run over and caused her death.
The verdict rules out that the accused struck, immobilised, suffocated his wife or acted with the intention of ending her life. It also rejects that he took advantage of limited reaction capacity due to alcohol and tramadol consumption.
This outcome represents a substantial shift from the initial accusations. Both the prosecution and the private prosecution, exercised by the deceased's sister, maintained that the man had killed his wife by beating her following an argument, requesting 25 years in prison for murder with aggravating circumstances of kinship and gender.
Following the verdict, both prosecutions modified their requests to four years in prison for manslaughter, revocation of driving licence for six years and compensation of €21,940 to the victim's sister. The prosecution has also proposed two years of supervised release.
The defence has requested that the mitigating circumstance of damage reparation be considered, since the accused has paid part of the compensation. His lawyer requested that he serve the sentence corresponding to manslaughter and be released as soon as possible, having spent nearly four years in provisional custody.
The jury's guilty finding now precedes the judicial ruling that will determine the definitive sentence of the accused.
Source: Libertad Digital