The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has sentenced a man to eight months in prison and the payment of a total of 2,560 euros, accused of uttering homophobic insults and punching another in Puerto de la Cruz.
The Court considers it proven that when the convicted man coincided with the complainant in a bar in the center of this city or its surroundings, he shouted to humiliate him for his sexual orientation.
On the morning of September 9, 2022, when the accused was in the bar, upon seeing the victim pass by again, he insulted him again, so the victim approached him in order to reproach his behavior, at which point the convicted man got up and punched him in the face and hit him on the left arm.
As a result, the victim suffered injuries compatible with the attack that took five days to heal, which did not prevent him from carrying out his daily tasks, for which he only received first aid and from which there have been no after-effects.
In his statement, the defendant denied being homophobic given that "I have friends of that kind," he defined himself as a calm person, not at all conflictive, who has never had problems with anyone and, on the contrary, always tries to help others.
The convicted man's version is that it was the other man who approached him waving his arms and shouting that he was insulting him, and then he got up, told him to go his way, that he had not said anything to him, and they both pushed each other.
During the trial, two witnesses confirmed that insults were common and that the defendant had even said: "Any day I'm going to beat him up."
The Public Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution maintained their request for a sentence of two years in prison and payment of 4,000 euros for a hate crime, while the defense requested acquittal.
The penalty includes a ban on approaching the complainant within 500 meters and communicating with him for a period of two years longer than the sentence time.
The amount to be paid is divided into a fine of two months with a daily fee of 6 euros, 200 for the days it took to heal and 2,000 as compensation for the moral damages suffered.
