Manuel Esteban Montoro, 69, admitted this Monday before the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas that he stabbed a 40-year-old man three times with a serrated knife after the man stole his mobile phone on July 25, 2023. These stab wounds ended his life.
Initially, this Monday only the Trial Court was to be formed, which was to decide whether the accused would be sentenced to thirteen years in prison for a homicide offense. However, the first session of the trial ended up being held on Monday morning after the accused showed a predisposition to admit the facts.
The events date back to after 8:30 PM on that July 25th, in the tourist town of Playa Blanca (Yaiza), when Manuel Esteban Montoro ran into the victim while walking around a cafeteria. "I admit I did wrong and I have to carry that remorse my whole life. I've never hurt anyone, I'm a good person, a Christian, and I've always avoided trouble, but that overwhelmed me," he recounted in court, according to testimony collected by the newspaper *La Provincia*.
The Prosecutor's Office initially requested a thirteen-year prison sentence for Manuel Esteban Montoro. However, after reaching an agreement between the defendant's defense, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the private prosecution, the sentence was reduced to ten years in prison for a homicide offense.
Despite the confession, the oral trial will continue this Tuesday with different witness and expert testimonies, and likely the final reports
The self-confessed perpetrator of the homicide of this 40-year-old man inflicted three stab wounds: one stab wound to the left lobe, another to the right parasternal region, and the last to the left flank of the abdomen. All three caused his death, as confirmed by a forensic report.
