The day for which that they had been ready for therefore a few years arrived. A trial they thought would by no means happen. But this Monday the listening to for the crime of Cash Record started on the Provincial Court of Lugo. A theft during which a cashier and a grocery store replenisher had been shot to dying on April 30, 1994.
The non-public prosecution requests 28 years in jail for the defendant, whereas the Prosecutor’s Office has not filed prices as a result of it doesn’t see adequate proof. The households are satisfied that the creator had the assistance of an confederate, however just one defendant will sit on the bench.
Manuel Juan Vilariño Casanova arrived on the trial amid nice media expectation. He did it wearing a hat and a masks, hiding his face nearly fully. Throughout this week he’ll sit on the bench as the one defendant. He is 54 years outdated and lives in Burgos, however on the time of the crime he had a restaurant in Lugo. This is a person with a protracted legal report for drug trafficking and possession of weapons, who was in jail a number of occasions.
Vilariño has refused to reply to the interrogation of the non-public prosecution and solely answered the prosecutor and his lawyer. In a really calm and emphatic approach he denied his involvement within the occasions. He assured that he was working that day and defined that he was merely a buyer of the grocery store as a result of he went there to purchase alcohol for his bar.
When questioned by the prosecutor, he acknowledged that he had a relationship with two individuals who supplied to promote medicine in his bar, whom he had met in jail, who later implicated him within the crime, telling them that he had proposed a coup within the grocery store. . The defendant argued that “the story of the Cash Record was invented to learn” after being caught trafficking medicine. He additionally denied having presumed in jail that he had carried out that coup. The prosecutor instructed him a few dialog he had throughout a recreation of ludo with different prisoners, however Vilariño assured that he didn’t know them and that he “didn’t play ludo” and was at all times within the laundry room.
Looks between the sister of one of many victims and the defendant
One of the witnesses who testified on this primary day of the trial was Isabel López, sister of the murdered cashier. During her intervention, she recalled how she went to search for her sister at her work and when she didn’t depart her and suspected that one thing unusual was occurring, she left her nephews with their grandmother and returned to the ship accompanied by her father and her husband. That’s once they got here in and found the our bodies. Isabel took benefit of the tip of her assertion to have a look at the defendant’s face, sitting a brief distance from her.
Another witness was the one who was accountable for the grocery store on the time of the occasions. He has defined that after closing time the door of the warehouse “was solely opened to recognized folks” and affirmed that it could have been opened to Vilariño.
The husband of Elena López, one of many victims, additionally testified. For a time there was hypothesis about his alleged involvement within the occasions, he was the one who obtained compensation for the dying of his spouse. On this, her sister-in-law Isabel declared on the exit that “the indications that there are is that she may know some issues that we didn’t know”, however she acknowledged that she didn’t have any proof to accuse him. In any case, each Isabel and Beli, the sister of the opposite sufferer, accused each the defendant and the witnesses of mendacity in his statements.
Despite every little thing, they belief in Justice
Carmen Balfagón, lawyer for the households of the victims, criticized the investigation, “which may have been enormously improved,” however assured that the trial is a chance “to make clear issues which have at all times been unknown.” With a sporting simile, she acknowledged that “we’re within the first half and for the time being with out markers”, and identified that, regardless of the defendant’s model, “there are different issues that the courtroom must analyze sooner or later”. The lawyer introduced that this Tuesday there will probably be three essential statements, together with that of a witness who till now has not been in a position to be positioned however who is anticipated to look.
Balfagón has trusted that the Prosecutor’s Office, in view of the proof, will modify its perspective, since it’s presently requesting the file of the case as a result of it doesn’t see adequate proof. The sister of one of many victims has additionally admitted that she is worried that the Public Ministry has not filed an accusation, however she is assured that with the proof that exists, she’s going to change her thoughts.