The popular jury declared Pau Rigo innocent, the 82-year-old retiree accused of killing with his hunting rifle one of the thieves who attacked his home in Porreres (Mallorca) in February 2018. After more than a day of deliberation, the members of the jurors essentially approved the allegations made by the old man during the trial which took place recently at the Balearic Provincial Court: he acted in self-defense when the thief attacked him to attack him.
The old man sat in the dock for the second time, before the Balearic Provincial Court, having already been tried for the same events in September 2023. On this occasion, another jury found him guilty by a resolution which sparked controversy and reopened the debate on self-defense and the question of whether or not, in this case, there was a proportionate reaction on the part of the pensioner.
Subsequently, the Court overturned the guilty verdict due to various errors in its approach and the Provincial Court ultimately exonerated the old man, finding that there was not “sufficient” evidence that the accused had “the intention to cause death” of the attacker. . However, last May the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB) declared the acquittal null and void at the request of the prosecution and ordered the trial to resume.
During his statement at the hearing, Rigo defended that he fired his shotgun when he saw that at one point the thief was heading towards him and that he thought he was going to kill him. . The man reported that during the episode, the attackers – two brothers – “became more and more nervous and violent”: “They pushed me and asked me where I had the money until which at one point I couldn’t take anymore. I said to myself, ‘These people are going to kill me.'” “I did it to defend myself. What should I have done? ‘Let me be killed?'” he said. addressing the court.
Questioned by the prosecutor, Rigo recalled that as he was leaving the house where he lived with his ex-wife, he was approached by two hooded men. [en alusión a los dos hermanos]who grabbed him and “twisted his arm”, covered his mouth and grabbed him by the neck. “They told me to calm down. From what they said, they thought he had 200,000 euros at home. They took me inside the house, telling me to stay calm, that they were coming to take the money. The first thing they asked me was the safe. I left because I had the key in the car.
“I never thought about shooting. “It was in self-defense.”
Back inside the chalet, he went down to the basement with one of the two [supuestamente Fredy] while the other attacker remained with his wife in her room. When we found that there was only 15,000 euros in the safe, “we went back up and they became more and more nervous and violent. I told them to leave, but they shook me and asked me where the money was until at one point I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to do something: defend.” The old man recalled that he was “very afraid” given that a few months ago he had suffered another robbery during which “a gun was put to his head and a knife under his head. neck.” They left me tied up and kidnapped, I thought. that they were going to do the same thing to me with the ties.
At one point, as the robbers were “going up and down,” Rigo said he grabbed the shotgun, which he had time to load. “I told my wife to stay in the room and not move. The two brothers appeared and hit me. “They broke my spine,” he said. When they pounced on him again – “we were very close” – the pensioner, then aged 78, pulled the trigger. “I never thought about shooting. It was in self-defense. I didn’t attack, they attacked me, which is not the same. I was attacked with a gun in my hand, and what was I going to do? I shot big. “I didn’t know where he shot,” he said.
For his part, Fredy E., brother of the deceased, assured that at no time did they show violence before the shooting: “I was very nervous and anxious, I just wanted to leave. I think we carried two backpacks [con 15.000 euros procedentes de una caja fuerte]. We then started to climb the stairs, my brother in front of me. Suddenly we found Pau, gun pointed, saying to my brother, “I’m going to kill you,” and he shot him. My brother reacted by lamenting “he killed me, he killed me” and fell to the side. Everything happened very quickly, we didn’t have time to do anything,” said Fredy. Visibly moved, he told the court: “It’s torture for me, remembering it day after day,” and the judge then ordered a recess.
When the hearing resumed, the accused insisted that it was “something very surprising”. “I went to get my brother and saw that Pau was loading the shotgun again, I turned around and we started fighting. I lunged at him to take the shotgun from him, but so far he hadn’t been hit. I hit him to make him drop the gun. When he fell to the ground I was able to snatch it from him, grabbed my brother and threw the rifle into the field.
Fredy E. ended his speech by being “very sure” that if at any time before the shooting he had touched the old man, “he wouldn’t be sitting here.” “They may say I’m the meanest person in the world, but I know exactly what happened. Before the shooting, I did not attack him at any time. It was a bad decision [perpetrar el robo] and I wanted to leave because I knew I was doing the wrong thing. I’m not here to blame you or tell you that you are a murderer. I have empathy for him, he could be my grandfather,” he concluded.
