This is the first crime regarding noise pollution to be judged in the province of Las Palmas. For this reason, the Prosecutor's Office has requested at the end of the oral trial that was held this Tuesday in the Arrecife courts against two defendants, the sole administrator and the manager of the El Convento pub on José Antonio street, that it be taken into account to determine a "forceful and exemplary" conviction.
For his part, the defense attorney for one of the defendants has criticized this request and has requested a "fair" sentence, which for him means the acquittal of his client, V.L., manager of the premises, and of the other defendant, P.S.G, since it cannot be determined that the "source of the noise" was the El Convento pub; and that therefore the defendants are perpetrators of a "crime against the environment in its form of undue emission of noises that seriously harm people's health", as the Prosecutor's Office has described it. Furthermore, V.L.'s lawyer states that his client is a mere "employee" and that his workplace was not this place, but the La Calle pub, which is also owned by the other defendant.
For its part, the private prosecution, which represents Pablo Betancort, a resident in the building adjacent to the premises and who filed the complaint for damages against his health, has maintained the maximum request for a sentence of four years in prison since he understands as an aggravating factor that "despite knowing that there were problems, they did nothing to eliminate or mitigate the noise". The Public Prosecutor's Office requests two years and six months in prison, a fine of 18 months and definitive closure of the premises.
The defense of the owner of the premises considers that his client has complied with all the regulations of the premises in an "exquisite" manner. During the trial, the owner has stated that he carried out renovations to soundproof the establishment and that he installed a sound limiter that, according to an expert presented by the defense, "makes it impossible" to increase the volume.
The neighbors' complaints
The case that was judged this Tuesday was initiated by Pablo Betancor, a resident in a building adjacent to El Convento since the noise coming, according to him, from the premises had generated "anxiety and sleep disorder, framed within dyssomnia". Pablo Betancor has testified as a witness in the oral trial and in it he has stated that since 1995 he had filed repeated complaints with the City Council, the Cabildo and before the Deputy of the Common for breach of hours and for noise pollution. "The vibrations made the lamp I have on the bedside table move", he illustrated.
The owner of the community where Pablo Betancor resides has also testified as a witness, who has assured that she took tranquilizers to sleep and that she had to move her residence due to the damages caused by the environmental noises and the music that, she maintained, they played in the premises. "I couldn't differentiate the song but I could hear ´pum pum`, as if they were playing drums".
In addition to these two witnesses on behalf of the prosecution, the agents of the Local Police of Arrecife have been called to testify, who in September 2005 in inspection visits testified that the premises were in breach of closing hours and that they emitted noises above what was allowed. On the other hand, on behalf of the defense, an inspector from the Arrecife City Council has stated that he does not remember that the establishment has been sanctioned for these reasons.
Expert evidence
The rest of the declarants have been experts, four at the request of the prosecution and one of the defense. Among them the head of the Classified Activities Service of the Cabildo, Manuel Jesús Spínola Perdomo, and the technician Nicolás González, who was present at the noise measurement carried out on September 10 in Pablo's home, and which together with another report carried out on October 22 show measurement figures that are above what is allowed, 30 decibels.
In this regard, the defense has emphasized that in neither of the two cases it can be assured that the noise that exceeded the maximum levels was "exclusively" from the El Convento premises.
A psychologist and a forensic doctor have also been called to testify by the prosecution to try to demonstrate the damages that the emission of noises had caused to Pablo Betancor and that for the Prosecutor's Office corroborate the consequences of an exposure "continuous, periodic and prolonged in time to all this volume of noise". But, in the same way as with the previous tests, the defense does not take for granted that the insomnia and anxiety were caused by the noise of the premises, nor that the environmental noise has El Convento as its only source.
Now, the trial has been seen for sentencing, although a second case against the City Council is expected, because Pablo Betancort has also denounced the Corporation, according to what he has stated, for "prevarication", and before what is requested the disqualification of three councilors.
