Fatal brawl in Valladolid shanties: Mariano sentenced to ten years for killing neighbour with knife wounds
A dispute over a door between Roma families in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Valladolid ended with a man dead. The attacker was sentenced to ten years in prison for homicide.
Two knife wounds and a life cut short in Buenos Aires neighbourhood
A dispute over the placement of a door on the roof of a shanty led to the death of a 25-year-old man in Valladolid. According to reporting by Ideal, the incident took place on 8 May 2003 in the ravine of Fuente Amarga, in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood, where nine Roma families had been living for some six years in precarious shanties.
It all began around midday, when a brother-in-law of Óscar H. M. and the son of Mariano B. J. were repairing the roof of a dwelling installed in an old chicken coop. Óscar reproached his neighbour: "Put it properly, there's too much cold getting in for the children." These were the last words they exchanged calmly. The dispute resumed shortly afterwards with the participation of Mariano, his son and the brothers Óscar and Jonathan, from the other family.
An anonymous call alerted authorities to the attack
About two hours after the first confrontation, an anonymous call to 091 alerted police to a fight in the area. Mariano had attacked both brothers with a knife. Óscar had two serious wounds to the thorax, one of them very close to the heart. Jonathan, 24 years old, had minor injuries to the abdomen.
Óscar died the following day, 9 May, at the Clínico Hospital in Valladolid, where he had been admitted urgently. He left behind two daughters aged seven and two. The Roma community in the area raised 2,400 euros in a few hours to pay for the funeral.
The attacker returned to the settlement with the knife in his hand
After the incident, Mariano returned to the Fuente Amarga shanty settlement. According to testimony gathered by the newspaper, he arrived with his son "with blood-stained hands and a knife in his hand" and addressed the victim's relatives: "I got down from the van and stabbed both of them." He then barricaded himself in his dwelling whilst preparing to flee with his family to Aranda de Duero.
On 12 May he was arrested in that municipality in Burgos province and initially transferred to Burgos prison and subsequently to Villanubla jail, where he was held awaiting trial for homicide.
The defendant's version: self-defence
At trial, Mariano claimed he was in his van with his son when two vehicles from the other family blocked their way. He asserted that, faced with an assault from his opponents—armed, according to him, with a hammer and a knife—he was forced to take a knife that he was carrying in the vehicle.
He acknowledged wounding Óscar, but insisted he had acted in self-defence. Regarding Jonathan's injuries, he stated: "He threw himself at me with the knife, I pushed him and when he fell to the ground he stabbed himself with it." He also explained that he decided to leave Valladolid to protect his family, intending to turn himself in days later.
Óscar's relatives rejected accusations pointing to drug dealing in their shanties: "No drugs are sold here. We have enough trouble as it is, trying to earn a living as best we can, but always honestly." They stressed that their only income was "scrap metal collection and selling a few things at the second-hand market."
Ten years in prison and 61,430 euros in compensation
The Provincial Court of Valladolid sentenced Mariano B. J. to ten years in prison for the homicide of Óscar H. M. and two additional years for the injuries caused to Jonathan, the victim's brother. The court also imposed compensation payments: 60,000 euros for the victim's parents, 1,430 euros for Jonathan for the injuries he suffered and 382 euros to the Sacyl health service for medical care costs.
The shanties where the families involved lived lacked running water—"we wish we had it," the neighbours pointed out—although they did have electricity supply "to be able to have a television and refrigerator." After the crime, the nine families inhabiting the settlement were reduced to six, after Mariano fled with his partner, children, daughters-in-law and grandchildren, and his brother and two daughters also abandoned the place.
Source: Ideal