The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) increased by one year, from five to six, the custodial sentence imposed on the Dutch tourist convicted of having removed the viscera with a machete attack at a hotelier of Seville in 2019. The TSJA emphasizes “the precise objective of the accused was to cause the greatest possible damage to the victim, whom he attacked with a 28 centimeter knife.
Four years after the events, he was extradited from the Netherlands to stand trial in Spain after the Seville court issued a national and international search and arrest warrant for failure to appear at trial. The prosecution requested six years in prison for attempted murder, a sentence that the TSJA has just pronounced after examining the appeal of the victim, then aged 35.
The facts date back to June 7, 2019. The defendant, Lofti Belghanch, aged 24 at the date of the facts, was with his partner at the La Bicicletería bar, on Feria street, in the center of Seville. As proven by the Third Chamber of the Court of Seville, around 5 a.m. he was expelled for smoking “strange” substances inside the premises.
The accused came out onto the street “dirty” and wanted to return to the bar, claiming his girlfriend had forgotten something inside. When they wouldn’t allow him, he started knocking on the premises’ doors. The manager and others left the bar to reproach him for his attitude, sparking an argument that escalated.
At one point, Lofti B. took a 28 centimeter machete (12 in handle and 16 in blade) from his backpack and stabbed the manager who was trying to calm him down twice, once in the abdomen, which eviscerated part of his intestines. , and another to the groin.
The court found that the accused knew that with these machetes “he could end the life” of the hotelier, but despite this, he continued to try to stab him further. “Despite his condition”, the victim stepped back and managed to avoid a new attack. The accused fled and was chased by several people who managed to catch up with him, making him drop the machete, although he immediately grabbed a stick to attack his pursuers again, who managed to arrest him .
The court noted that the stab that struck the abdominal area was executed “with a downward-upward trajectory, with force, causing a penetrating injury which, without medical assistance, would undoubtedly have caused death.” of the victim. Concerning the second stab wound, he remarks “that if it had hit the femoral artery, it would have irremediably caused his death.” “If we add to this the last attempted attack evaded by the victim, this allows us to affirm, beyond any rational doubt, the homicidal intention which presided over his act,” maintained the court of the third section.
For its part, Lofti B.’s defense argued that the accused was at that time on vacation at a campsite in Huelva and “as during all his trips”, he had his backpack “equipped with all typical elements for this purpose. “, among which the machete used in the attack. “Before returning to his country, he spent the night in Seville”, where, after a night walk with his then partner, they entered the aforementioned bar , where “they drank a few beers”. There, he allegedly had a “misunderstanding” with a waiter, who kicked him out of the bar “believing he was referring to him when he said out loud that ‘it smelled funny'”.
Once outside the premises, the aforementioned waiter and three of his “friends”, according to the defense, “reprimanded and attacked” Lofti B., who found himself “overwhelmed by the situation” and took out a machete which he ended up using “out of fear”. “I did not intend to attack, only to defend myself,” he said during the trial.
He was looking for “the greatest possible damage”
After the prosecution and the private prosecutor’s office qualified the facts as attempted homicide (the prosecution asked for 10 years less a day in prison), the court sentenced Lofti B. to five years and a day in prison and the payment of compensation of 25,541 euros.
But the private prosecutor’s office, hired by the victim, appealed the sentence before the TSJA in order to “aggravate the sentence pronounced, without specifying what should be imposed”, for “error in the evaluation of the evidence and violation” of the Penal Code. .
Analyzing the appeal, the TSJA asserts that “the accused acted with the deliberate purpose of ending the life” of the victim, and “the reiteration in the attack by the accused, who threw several stabs at the victim”, two of which hit vital areas, with the resulting consequences.
The TSJA underlines “the precise aim of the accused to cause the greatest possible harm” to the victim who, she recalls, suffered “intestinal perforation of the right ileum at several points and valve perforation”, putting his life in danger. Thus, the TSJA concludes that “the circumstances” surrounding the events “justify the increase in the penalty imposed in the sentence”, which is why it considers that a custodial sentence of six years is “more appropriate and proportional to severity.” facts.
As requested by his defense, Lofti B. will be able to serve his sentence in his country of origin, a request to which the prosecution did not object.
