Costa del Sol motorbike death case reopened

The court in Vélez-Málaga on the eastern Costa del Sol investigating the death of Antonio Javier Gutiérrez Ramos, the 30-year-old motorcyclist who died on 20 July 2025 after colliding with a car on the Almayate stretch of the N-340 coastal road, has reopened the case.

The court has agreed to reopen the proceedings after the family provided new evidence in support of their claim that the investigation into the events of that early morning should continue. The ruling means that the provisional dismissal that had closed the case has been set aside, at least for the time being.

The court order, to which SUR has had access, expressly states that it “revokes the provisional dismissal of the present preliminary proceedings, as ordered on 24 August 2025”. The decision comes after the family again requested the reopening of the investigation in July, providing new witnesses and expert reports.

The decision follows the submission of a written application by Javier’s family and their lawyer, Antonio Luque, on 19 July, as reported by SUR in early August. The application was accompanied by four expert technical reports, as well as a legal statement containing accounts from eyewitnesses who, according to the defence, did not give evidence in court during the initial investigation. The family also requested that further investigations and technical examinations be carried out in an attempt to reconstruct more accurately how the collision occurred.

The deceased’s mother, Paqui Ramos, has welcomed the ruling after more than a year of calling for all avenues of investigation to be exhausted. “I’m very happy,” she told SUR. “That’s what we wanted – for everyone to be heard – and now the courts will decide,” she said. Ramos insists that her aim is not to assign blame in advance to any of the people involved in the incident, but to ensure that all available evidence is analysed before the case is definitively closed.

“If my son is guilty, we will accept it, but everything must be investigated,” said Ramos, adding: “The law must decide.” This is the same stance the family has been maintaining over the last few months and which their lawyer conveyed following the previous decision to close the case: they are not asking the court to determine in advance who is at fault, but rather that the outstanding evidence be examined and that the judicial investigation subsequently establish what happened.

The accident happened at around 3.15 am on 20 July 2025 at kilometre 268 of the old N-340, as it passes through Almayate (Vélez-Málaga). The 125-cc motorbike being ridden by Antonio Javier Gutiérrez Ramos collided with a BMW X1. Javier, a resident of Torre del Mar and a sports instructor, died at the scene. A 42-year-old woman and her six-year-old son were travelling in the car. From the very outset, the specific circumstances of the collision have been the subject of dispute between the motorcyclist’s family and those involved in the investigation.

The previous decision to close the case had been based, among other factors, on the testimony of a driver travelling behind the car and on the results of the motorcyclist’s blood alcohol test, which showed 2.38 grams of alcohol per litre of blood. The court therefore concluded that there was insufficient evidence to continue investigating a possible offence of reckless homicide attributed to the driver. The family, however, has maintained ever since that witnesses were not heard and technical aspects were not verified before the investigation was closed.

The reopening of the case does not in itself imply the attribution of liability, nor does it prejudge the final outcome of the proceedings. What the court is doing is reactivating proceedings that had been provisionally stayed to allow for the examination and assessment of new evidence. It is on the basis of these proceedings that the court will then have to decide once again whether there is sufficient evidence to continue the proceedings or whether another decision should be taken. For the relatives, this means achieving precisely the objective they have been campaigning for over the past few months: that the doubts be examined by the courts before the case is closed.

The court’s decision will coincide this week with a new protest organised by the family. Javier’s loved ones have organised another gathering for this Thursday 20 August, at 8.30pm, at the Torre del Mar lighthouse, where they have regularly met to remember the young man and demand that the accident be fully investigated. The poster circulated for the event, bearing the slogan ‘Justice for Javi’, announces a minute’s silence and a few words in his memory, as well as an optional walk. The organisers are also encouraging those who have purchased the commemorative T-shirt to wear it during the event.

Paqui Ramos explained that they are hoping for a large turnout – “I hope there will be loads of us” – although this time the gathering will have a special significance. The family intends for it to be “the last rally/tribute until further notice” while the case remains under judicial investigation once again, out of respect for the court’s work.

Meanwhile, at the Torre del Mar Lighthouse, the small memorial set up in memory of Javier remains in place, with photographs, flowers, candles and messages calling for justice. More than a year after the accident and following several attempts by the family to keep the investigation alive, the case has now returned to the point where Paqui Ramos always wanted to see it: before the court, with evidence and witnesses awaiting assessment.