“I punched Harry twice to defend myself. He had hit me before, but I didn’t want to kill him“. With these words, the 26 year old British defendant yesterday denied in the jury trial held at the Court of Palma that he intended to end the life of the victim, also British, after an argument in an apartment in Sant Antoni. The prosecutor has requested an 18 year prison sentence for an alleged crime of murder .
During his appearance, the accused insisted that he did not know the victim at all. According to his version of what happened, the defendant arrived at the Sant Antoni apartment between six and eight o’clock in the morning of July 18th, 2018.
According to his testimony, the argument in the apartment started after one of the young men decided to start smoking marijuana and another urged him to leave. One man then apparently spat on the bed of the other.
Punched twice in “self defence”
The discussion then escalated into a fight. The defendant assured in court that he tried to separate them. “I pushed Harry (the victim) and he punched me twice. I defended myself and punched him twice and saw him fall backwards onto a suitcase,” he said.
“I did not see him shaking”
The defendant denied that he saw the victim convulsing on the floor, as the prosecutor claims in his indictment. “I did not see him shaking. He was on his back on the suitcase,” he said. He then decided to leave the apartment, but could not find a way to open the door. “I jumped over the balcony from the second to the first floor and from there to the ground floor and started walking. I didn’t know anything else about what had happened upstairs,” he noted.
The young British man admitted to the jury court that he had been drinking alcohol for a good part of the night. “I had about ten vodkas with co-workers,” he said, before going to the apartment where the fatal assault occurred. The accused indicated that he had been offered a job as a glass cleaner in a Ibizan bar and that he planned to stay longer on the island.
The accused denied that he saw the victim fall to the ground he punched him. “He was on his back on a suitcase,” he said
Likewise, the defendant described his behavior as “self-defense” after allegedly receiving two punches in the face. “I never hit anyone thinking that I was going to kill them”, he added. Faced with questions if he had any knowledge of martial arts, the defendant denied it. “I have only ever played rugby,” he stated.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.