Eight months in prison, a fine of 130 euros and the payment of court costs. This is the sentence that the Court of Instruction number 1 of Arrecife has imposed on Daniel Montesdeoca Martín for assaulting a Civil Guard and threatening a man with "slashing" him while brandishing a 20-centimeter knife. However, despite the fact that he already has several criminal records for resisting authority and breaching sentences, he will not be imprisoned. The sentence itself suspends the prison sentence, replacing it with 5 months of work for the benefit of the community.
The events took place in the early hours of last Saturday to Sunday, in a premises in the Papagayo shopping center in Playa Blanca, and were to be resolved in a quick trial. However, it was not even necessary to hold the hearing. Montesdeoca reached an agreement, accepting the account of the facts made by the Prosecutor's Office and the penalties requested for him. As this agreement has been reached, the sentence is now final.
According to that account of the facts accepted by Montesdeoca, at around 3:00 in the morning, the convicted man approached the owner of that establishment and "with the intention of intimidating him and while showing him a knife with a 20-centimeter blade, he said: 'you're a piece of shit and I'm going to slash you, I just got out of jail'".
"I don't care about going back to jail, I'm going to kill this guy"
After those threats to the owner of the premises, two Civil Guard officers appeared in their uniforms, who "approached the accused to ask him to stop his attitude", the sentence states. However, Montesdeoca did not hesitate to threaten them as well. "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to slash you, I don't care about going back to jail but I'm going to kill this guy", the ruling states that the convicted man said to one of the officers.
While uttering those threats, Daniel Montesdeoca showed a "highly aggressive attitude" and displayed "a 23 cm long beer bottle". The convicted man even "struggled" with that civil guard, causing him "injuries consisting of abrasions on both hands and knees". The officer received medical assistance and needed 3 days, "one of them preventing him from working", to recover from those injuries, although he did not need more medical treatment and has not suffered any after-effects.
For these events, the Prosecutor's Office initially requested that the accused be sentenced to 6 months in prison for a crime of threats and another 6 months for a crime of assault. However, as there was an agreement, the sentence imposed by the Court is finally reduced by a third. In this way, the ruling sentences Montesdeoca to 4 months in prison for each of those crimes and imposes a ban on approaching within 500 meters of the owner of the bar, his place of work or places he frequents, as well as communicating with him "by any means" for 2 years. In addition, he must pay the aforementioned fine to the officer and the costs of the proceedings. As for the suspension of the prison sentence, it is applied for a period of 2 years and is "conditional on him not committing any crime during that period" and on carrying out those community service works for 5 months.
According to the sentence, this man has at least two convictions behind him. One of them, from October 2014, imposed 2 months in prison for breaching a previous sentence and another 4 months for another crime of resisting authority. A month later, in November 2014, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison for another crime of breaching a sentence.
