Glenn Wickman
TWO men are facing long sentences for two separate brutal attacks on elderly people in Valencia Province.
Both court cases were reported today (Friday May 21), although they are each at different stages.
The first involves a 27-year-old man who suddenly and for no apparent reason attacked his own grandfather with a knife in the family home in Oliva (La Safor) in February 2019.
Yesterday the defendant admitted to having stabbed his grandfather several times in the face and neck with an 11-centimetre blade that his grandmother was using to chop potatoes, with the stated aim of killing him.
The court heard that the attacker suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was suddenly struck by a psychotic episode, which explains the apparently random attack.
His medical diagnosis could have exonerated the defendant completely, as he was reportedly not aware of what he was doing and was unable to think rationally.
However, it clashes with the fact that his grandfather is suffering with several severe health problems, which makes the assault more serious as it was committed against a victim who was particularly vulnerable.
The defendant was finally sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in a mental institution.
At the same time, another man in Valencia city is facing a possible life sentence for allegedly murdering an 82-year-old woman during a burglary in August 2018.
In the trial set to begin on Monday, the defendant is accused of suffocating his victim with a pillow after she opened the door to him, before escaping with jewels and valuables which he later sold in a pawn shop for €2,300.
Reports suggest the victim and the alleged killer knew each other, as the accused had done some building work for the elderly lady and pretended to visit her to sort out some paperwork.
The prosecution is demanding a life sentence for a series of aggravating circumstances, also including assault on a vulnerable person.
