Jury finds three defendants guilty of murder in killing of Manises property adviser
A jury has found three defendants guilty of murder in the death of José María Lluna Taberner, a 47-year-old property adviser who was asphyxiated in Manises in March 2024.
Three found guilty of murder of Manises property adviser
A jury has found three defendants guilty of murder in the death of José María Lluna Taberner, a 47-year-old property adviser asphyxiated in an apartment in Manises, according to lasprovincias.es. The verdict was delayed following the hospitalisation of one of the accused women, who was pregnant and close to giving birth.
The jury panel found it proven that the accused—Darwin M. A. A., of Colombian nationality; Antonio F. C.; and Rosa María R. F.—planned the crime on the night of 19 March 2024 at Rosa's home. The motive was to steal the 126,000 euros the victim had in his current account, whose balance they learned of after photographing the screen of a mobile phone during a Bizum payment.
The plan included hiring a prostitute and supplying painkillers, sedatives and muscle relaxants mixed with cocaine in order to obtain Lluna Taberner's banking credentials.
The assault lasted nearly two hours
In the early morning of 20 March 2024, at around 4.30 a.m., the three accused went to the victim's apartment on Catarroja street in Manises. Darwin entered first; the other two waited on the landing before entering the dwelling.
As José María bent over the table to snort cocaine, one or more of the accused grabbed him around the neck from behind, immobilised him and threw him to the ground using a chokehold technique. They then struck and kicked him all over his body, causing him bleeds from his nose and mouth, fractures of several ribs and widespread bruising. The force exerted in the strangling also caused fractures to the hyoid complex and larynx.
To silence him, they stuffed cloth rags and paper tissues into his mouth, preventing him from both shouting and breathing. At the same time they demanded his banking credentials, warning him that if he did not provide them they would kill him. This situation lasted nearly two hours, according to audio recordings that one of the accused sent to an ex-partner.
The jury found evidence of cruelty on the grounds that "the assault was executed in a callous manner, as the victim's pain was deliberately and entirely unnecessarily increased."
Death from mixed mechanical asphyxia
José María Lluna Taberner died as a result of severe mixed mechanical asphyxia: external compression and obstruction of the airways. A ball of paper tissue had descended to the larynx, obstructing breathing, a situation evident from the progressive discolouration of the victim's face.
The jury determined that the initial intention was not to kill Lluna Taberner—"dead he was no use to them," as noted in the audio recordings—but rather to obtain his banking credentials. However, during the strangulation and insertion of objects into his mouth, the accused accepted the high likelihood that the man would die, which the verdict classifies as indirect intent.
At approximately 6.50 a.m., the three accused left the dwelling after switching off all the electrical switches, locking it and taking the key with them. They left the building via the emergency exit with their faces covered with caps, towels and hoods.
Although the jury cannot determine what each accused did individually, it considers that all three knew of the criminal plan and participated actively, either as perpetrators or as necessary cooperators, leaving the victim in a state "possibly dead or near death."
Sentences sought: up to 27 and a half years in prison
For Darwin M. A. A., the jury found the mitigating circumstance of drug addiction, established by his defence counsel Nair Sellés. The Public Prosecutor, who initially sought 30 years in prison with aggravating circumstances of abuse of superiority and prior convictions, has reduced its request to 25 and a half years: 21 years for the murder offence and four and a half years for robbery with violence. The Public Prosecutor also seeks that, once 10 years of the sentence have been served, he be deported to his country.
For Antonio F. C., the Public Prosecutor and private prosecution maintain their request of 27 and a half years in prison—23 for murder and four and a half for robbery—the highest sentence of the three.
Rosa María R. F., who was about to give birth at the time of trial, could see her sentence reduced further as the jury appreciated mitigating circumstances in her case, although the verdict has not yet specified the extent of such reduction at the time this report closed.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)