Walter Finch
THE alleged jihadi who killed a church worker during a rampage in Algeciras has had his appeal to be tried by a local jury rejected.
Moroccan national Yassin Kanjaa, 27, is accused of killing sexton Diego Valencia, 74, and stabbing several other people with a machete at two churches in January 2023.
Spain’s Supreme Court has denied his appeal that he should be tried as a mentally ill person rather than a terrorist.
He will now face a trial by a panel of judges in Madrid’s National Court (Audencia Nacional), rather than a jury of his peers in a local courthouse in Cadiz.
The prosecution will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kanjaa’s actions meet the legal criteria for a terrorism conviction, while his defence team will argue their client is not a terrorist but unwell.
The decision will come as a blow to the Moroccan, who would have fancied that a jury of ordinary citizens from Cadiz would be more sympathetic to his personal situation and mental state.
Kanjaa is accused of entering the San Isidro church and trying to urge the congregation to convert to Islam.
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He then returned with a machete and started destroying the Christian imagery, before attacking local priest Antonio Rodriguez, who was celebrating the Eucharist at the time.
He stabbed the priest in the shoulder and neck before leaving and making his way to the La Palma church 200 metres away.
He continued to smash up property before attacking Valencia, who fled the church.
Kanjaa hunted him down outside in the Plaza Alta main square, where he stabbed and beat him to death.
Three more people suffered injuries trying to save the sexton.
Police soon arrived to arrest the man, who had been living in Spain illegally since 2019 and was under a deportation order.
He had previously been living in a squat with other undocumented immigrants, who described him as ‘violent and unstable’.
He did not mix with the Moroccan community and had previously caused trouble in local mosques.
He had a history of mental illness in Morocco, where he was monitored but never sectioned.
