THE EVENT OCCURRED IN JANUARY 2015 AND THE ACCUSED IS IN PREVENTIVE DETENTION

The death of a woman stabbed in Titerroy goes to trial with a request for 11 years in prison

The event took place in January 2015 and the accused has been in provisional prison since then. The Prosecutor's Office applies "passion" as a mitigating factor. It considers that the victim attacked him first with the same knife...

March 1 2016 (18:22 WET)
The death of a woman stabbed in Titerroy goes to trial with a request for 11 years in prison
The death of a woman stabbed in Titerroy goes to trial with a request for 11 years in prison

On February 4, 2014, Araceli A.F. died on the landing of her house, when she was trying to ask for help after receiving a stab wound inside the house, located in the capital's neighborhood of Titerroy. A little more than a year and a month later, the man accused of ending her life will be in the dock, with a request for 11 years in prison by the Prosecutor's Office.

The trial will begin next March 28, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and a jury will be in charge of dictating the verdict. In his indictment, the prosecutor Ignacio Stampa points to Cesáreo García Fernández, who is currently 68 years old, as the perpetrator of a crime of homicide, although with the mitigating circumstance of passion. According to the Penal Code, this mitigating circumstance applies when the crime is committed with "causes or stimuli so powerful that they have produced passion, obfuscation or other emotional state of similar entity".

In the case of the stabbing of Araceli A.F., who was 55 years old, the investigation considered it proven that she was the one who first attacked the accused, with the same knife that later ended her life. In fact, when he was arrested at the airport, Cesáreo García had a wound on his back, so he had to be taken to the hospital. Later, after being brought to justice, he was sent to provisional prison, pending the trial that is now going to be held.

 

A visit that ended in tragedy


In his indictment, the Prosecutor's Office explains that Cesáreo, who resided in Tenerife, had known Araceli for several years. She was a native of Cuba but had lived on the island for some time. On the day of the event, the accused had traveled to Lanzarote precisely to meet her. Araceli and her son even went to pick him up at the airport, shortly before 11 in the morning. Afterwards they had a drink –in the case of Cesáreo, a gin and tonic– in a bar near his home, located on Navarra Street, and finally went up to the house.

There, according to the prosecutor's account, a "discussion between them" began later. At one point, Araceli attacked Cesáreo "from behind and surprisingly, when he was looking at the street through the window of the living room of the house." For this he used a knife with a paste handle, which he stuck "in the posterior thoracic region", causing a wound of two centimeters in length, but without causing internal damage.

Afterwards, the accused turned around and a struggle began between them, in which she even bit him on the elbow, also causing a wound on his arm, according to the indictment. Finally, Cesáreo managed to "snatch the knife" but, despite having stopped the struggle and being unarmed, the prosecutor considers that the accused "did not sufficiently control his impulses due to the fury derived from the intensity of the situation" and "inflicted a stab wound with the same knife".

 

A lethal wound


In this case, Cesáreo inflicted the stab wound in the upper part of the chest, according to the prosecutor, "with the intention of causing his death or knowing that he could cause it." In addition to other internal damage, the wound affected the pulmonary artery, which caused his death a few minutes later. After receiving the stab wound, Araceli tried to leave the house and ask for help, but ended up dying next to the door, on the landing, where a neighbor found her shortly afterwards, who was the one who raised the alarm.

By then, Cesáreo had already left the house. According to the prosecutor, after the attack he collected his belongings and left. And the first thing he did was enter a nearby bar, where he had another gin and tonic. Then, he went to the airport, with the intention of returning to Tenerife. However, there he was arrested by agents of the National Police, when he was about to enter the airport terminal. At that time it was 3:15 p.m., that is, about four and a half hours after arriving on the island.

The agents found Cesáreo stained with blood and with the knife wound on his back, so the first thing they did was take him to the hospital, where he only required three stitches. Now, he must answer for an alleged crime of homicide, for which he has been in provisional prison ever since. In addition to 11 years in prison, the Prosecutor's Office also demands that the accused compensate the victim's children with 120,000 euros.

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