It happened in the early hours of July 6, 2021, when a 17-year-old minor was with his parents at the El Dorado hotel in Cambrils (Tarragona) and began to show strange behavior. “You want to kill me, all of you are deceiving me,” he said. Faced with this situation, a security guard from the accommodation showed up in his room. That’s when the boy started hitting him and gouged out his eyeballs.
Since then, as a precautionary measure after being arrested, he has been admitted to a closed therapeutic center -which would be equivalent to provisional prison for adults-, by decision of the Tarragona Juvenile Court. This Wednesday, he has been sentenced to eight years in prison for attempted murder, attack, damage and minor injuries.
The young man is diagnosed with developmental disorder -serious disturbance of various areas of development-; ADHD, schizophreniform disorder -delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and disorganized or catatonic behavior-; and he has social phobia and impaired impulse regulation.
At the time of the attack “the minor presented a severe decrease in his intellective and volitional abilities.” As for him, the guard, in addition to losing his eyeballs, with the consequent blindness, suffered a serious blow to the head, and remained in the ICU for more than a month. He is now in a vegetative state in a health center, since he is dependent for all the basic activities of daily life.
When the Mossos d’Esquadra arrived at the hotel where the attack took place, they located the unconscious victim on the floor, next to his eyeballs. One of the officers tried to stop the boy and he headbutted him and tried to take his service weapon. For all this, the Prosecutor’s Office requested a sentence of ten years in prison for the young man, although this morning, during the trial, the Public Ministry, the private accusations and the defense have agreed on a sentence of eight years.
Civil liability will be discussed at a hearing to be held on October 3 at the Tarragona Juvenile Court. The USPAC union, appearing as a private prosecution, has celebrated the sentence imposed, and recalls that, if this had not been the case, the minor would have been released in August, when the precautionary measure for his entry into a closed regime in a center ended.
