The jury declared this Thursday night the accused not guilty of the crime of Victoriano Carmelo Rivero, a "homeless" man, 69 years old, who was found dead in May 2009 in the shed where he lived, located under a bridge in Tías. The trial was held this week in the Provincial Court of Las Palmas and the jury has unanimously decided that it has not been proven that Steven D.G., 28 years old, beat this man to death, as the Prosecutor's Office maintained.
After this verdict of the jury, it will be the judge who has to issue the acquittal of Steven D.G., who has been in pre-trial detention for two and a half years. The Prosecutor's Office was asking for 23 years in prison for the accused for an alleged crime of murder. Steven D.G. pleaded not guilty during the oral hearing and said that he was a "good person" and that "a very great injustice" had been committed in his case, according to Efe.
Despite the statements of the accused and his acquittal, the Prosecutor's Office has maintained at all times that Steven D.G. "gave a strong blow with a sharp and blunt object" to Victoriano Carmelo Rivero, "knocked the victim face down, hitting him repeatedly on the head and chest, causing numerous wounds and fractures, which ended up causing his death".
The Civil Guard analyzed the garbage bag that covered the head of the corpse when it was found and found fingerprints of the accused. However, the agents could not determine if these fingerprints were from the same day of the crime or from previous dates. And the accused said that he used garbage bags in the carpentry shop where he worked, near where the victim's body was found.
It should be remembered that the accused was arrested five months after the death of this homeless man. Steven D.G. defended his innocence in the trial, said that he did not know the victim and that he had never been to the place where the deceased lived. In addition, he stated that on the night that Carmelo Rivero Pulido died he was accompanied by his mother, brother and father.
