The crime of Juan Carlos Tejera, whose body was found in the Argana landfill in March 2015, will go to trial next week, with six defendants in the dock. The Prosecutor's Office is asking for 25 years in prison for five of them for the crime of murder and 14 years for the sixth, whom they identify as an accomplice.
The hearing will be held over several days, between next Monday the 18th and Friday the 29th of October, before the First Section of the Provincial Court, but with a jury.
Of the six defendants -J.C.C.H., N.D.P.P., A.D.D., J.A.D.R., A.E.G.G. and T.R.R.-, three resided in Lanzarote and three others in Tenerife, from where they made several trips to the island in February 2015, according to the Prosecutor's Office, to monitor the victim, even placing a device in his vehicle "that allowed him to be located at all times." Already at the time of his arrest, the National Police pointed out that it was a criminal organization based in the south of Tenerife and dedicated to the commission of violent robberies.
“They carried out both the entry (to Lanzarote) and the exit in a staggered manner, in groups of two people and generally with different locations so as not to be related to each other,” the Prosecutor's Office states in its indictment.
In addition, he points out that they had “an organizational structure on the island that facilitated the commission of various criminal acts”, and that they acted “with extreme violence and hitting their victims, after immobilizing them, to avoid a possible defense on their part, also using technological devices to carry out prior monitoring of their victims.”
In the case of T.R.R., the Public Prosecutor's Office concludes that he provided the rest of the defendants, “knowing the objectives they intended, with the use of a GPS device, contacting a third person, unrelated to these events and a computer technician, who she knew and through whom she managed to learn how to use said device and how to put it into operation, in order to make the defendants available to carry out follow-ups on the victim.”
"A prolonged agonizing period"
Finally, the assault occurred at approximately 11:35 p.m. on March 12, 2015, when Juan Carlos Tejera was in the garage of his home in Arrecife. He was then beaten and tied hand and foot, and then transferred in the back seat of his own car to the landfill area, “leaving him in a cave that they had prepared for this purpose during the days prior to the day of the events,” according to the Prosecutor's Office.
His lifeless body was found nine days later, on March 21, after an intense police search, following the report of disappearance filed by his family. The autopsy, according to the indictment, reflects that he suffered a “severe traumatic brain injury due to multiple contusions of very high intensity”, in addition to other injuries, contusions and “multiple fractures” throughout the body.
“All these injuries were produced in life by the investigated parties, with full awareness of increasing the victim's suffering, causing him intense and unnecessary suffering and pain to carry out their objectives,” the Prosecutor's Office emphasizes, adding that the injuries caused “a prolonged agonizing period” until “they led him to death between March 13 and 15, 2015.”
In addition to the prison sentence, the Prosecutor's Office is asking that the defendants be ordered to compensate the victim's siblings, parents and sentimental partner with the amount of 120,000 euros, plus legal interest increased by two points.
