Laurence Dollimore
A BRITISH tourist who one-punch killed a pensioner in Fuengirola has avoided jail.
Mark Turner, 45, of Dagenham, was handed a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay €183,500 in compensation to the family of victim Mario Sauco.
Turner, who was convicted of manslaughter by the Malaga court, was warned he would be sent to jail if he fails to make three payments or re-offends.
Mario Sauco, 66, had been drinking with a friend in the same bar – the Chruchill – as the Brit on August 4, 2018, the court heard.
The British father was with his wife and daughters and some of his own friends when Sauco was asked to leave for being too drunk.
While he was halfway up the street, Turner heard how Sauco had been pestering one of his daughters and mistakenly thought he had sexually harassed them – which the court ruling confirmed there was no evidence of.
He chased down the Argentinian the father of three and punched him in the face, causing him to fall hard on his back and hit his head.
The victim suffered a right temporal fracture, subdural haematoma and brain haemorrhage. He would die after being in a coma for eight days.
A witness had photographed Turner, who had no criminal record, on the scene with his mobile phone – an image that the family circulated through social networks to try to identify him.
The witness said a British man stayed near Sauco’s body ‘crying’ when he saw the OAP was not moving following the punch.
“He was crying and said: ‘I think I have killed a man’,” said the witness.
Turner is believed to have fled to the UK after punching the pensioner before returning to the country to hand himself in.
