The prosecutor has finally requested permanent reviewable prison for Micael D.S.M, known as ‘El Portugués’, accused of fatally running over four people and injuring nine at a wedding in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid), thus raising his request from 226 years in prison to the maximum penalty allowed by current legal system.
This change of criteria is due to the current jurisprudence establishing permanent prison starting from the third murder, aligning the public prosecutor’s position with the initial demands of four out of the five accusations filed by the victims of the hit-and-run, which took place in November 2022 near El Rancho restaurant, where the celebration was being held.
The author of the quadruple fatal hit-and-run at a wedding in Torrejón: «My own body accelerated out of fear»
The Madrid Court continued on Friday with the final session of the jury trial against the accused of four murder charges and nine attempted murders, with the reading of the final reports from the parties, defining the change in the Prosecutor’s stance regarding their preliminary conclusions.
During her intervention, the prosecutor reiterated that ‘El Portugués’ accelerated his car «knowingly» with people nearby, whom he ran over «with the clear intention of causing their death or assuming that possibility.»
In her opinion, the accused accepted without hesitation the probability that his acceleration speed, reaching an average of over 60 kilometers per hour according to investigators, could cause serious injuries or deaths: «He was indifferent,» she noted before describing the hit-and-run as an act of «brutality», as she sees no remorse on his part.
They rule out that the author of the massive hit-and-run in Torrejón suffered a psychotic episode or consumed drugs
Therefore, the prosecutor emphasized that a projectile of a ton and a half, referring to the weight of the vehicle with which Micael D.S.M. allegedly ran over the crowd, «was launched against innocent people in a indiscriminate manner.»
Likewise, she questioned the accused’s version by pointing out that the alleged «battle» he described left no marks on his body. «The aggression he describes is of such magnitude that he would have been severely injured,» concluded the representative of the public ministry. The accused’s version «does not hold up,» according to the accusations.
On the other hand, the accusations, who have aligned with the Prosecutor’s final conclusions, have criticized the arguments put forth by the accused’s lawyer, who seeks his acquittal by arguing the exemptions of insurmountable fear and necessity.
The victims of the hit-and-run at the Torrejón wedding: «It seemed like a terrorist attack»
«Yesterday, the accused fell into many contradictions,» stated lawyer Jaime Sanz de Bremond, representing two of the four deceased, in statements to the media before entering the Madrid Court.
«The accused accepted the possibility of carrying out a massacre,» said Bremond. «He took down whatever he could,» added Juan Manuel Medina, lawyer for the family of the deceased minor.